
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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tnap. Copyright No. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERSCA. 



THE 



COMING OF THE GREAT KING 



OR 



AN EXAMINATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE 

SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, AND OF 

QUESTIONS THERETO RELATED 



BY 



/ 



Wm. houliston 



WITH A CONCLUDING CHAPTER 



ON 



THE MILLENNIUM AND THE FUTURE LIFE 




minneap(j 

Great WesterN^^ 



TWO COPIES RECEIVED 
1 






The Library 
of Congress 



WASHINGTON 



BY 

WILLIAM HOULISTON 



fSS 



PREFACE. 

I am exceedingly glad of the opportunity which 
the good old custom of prefacing books affords 
me, of introducing this little volume to the public in 
a few salutatory and explanatory remarks. First, 
and salutatorily, I present to you my most hearty 
greeting, assuring you of my sincere regard, and of 
the very grateful sense I have of a constantly grow- 
ing interest in, and sympathy with humanity of 
every clime and shade and tongue. I wish further 
to assure you of my yearning desire for, and glad 
expectation of a speedy emancipation of humanity 
from many, at least, if not from most of the per- 
plexing cares, the misfortunes, and the sorrows, 
to which it now is and ever has been subject since 
the peaceful days of Eden, and which are to be 
brought to a close by the coming of the "Great 
Deliverer," and his inauguration of a new era, to 
describe the glories and the peace of which Sacred 
Scripture has exhausted all the poetry of language. 

Explanatorily I wish to say, that while at first 
view, the comparatively recent publication of a 
number of volumes upon practically the same sub- 
ject as this one, written by men of recognized schol- 
arship and ability, whose names are familiar to the 



literary world, supplies every need in this line, and 
ought perhaps to have discouraged a further pub- 
lication, at least by one who can lay no claim to 
scholarship, and who has never yet emerged, and 
probably never will, from the shadows of literary 
obscurity, yet, upon a further view of this same 
fact, and one taken from another standpoint, both 
the motive and excuse for this little volume may be 
easily found. 

The publication of the scholarly and exhaustive 
expositions of this subject, above referred to, are 
only one of a series of evidences of a revival of in- 
terest in the subject. The holding of prophetic con- 
ferences in recent years, both in this country and in 
Europe is another. It is not surprising, there- 
fore, nor blamable, that others besides those whose 
names are enrolled among the literati, and who 
also have been for years interested students of the 
subject, and have thought long and deeply upon it, 
should be prompted at a time like this to lay before 
the public their contribution to the general expres- 
sion upon the theme. 

In writing this volume, the aim has been to 
treat the subject comprehensively enough to satisfy 
the ordinary reader, and yet to keep it within the 
limit of a hundred and fifty pages or so, having in 
mind the fact that, while the average reader, moved 
either by interest in the theme, or by simple curios- 
ity, might readily enough take up and read a book 
of this kind which he could peruse in a few hours, 
he would persistently ignore a ponderous volume 



of from five hundred to six hundred pages on the 
same subject. 

If a knowledge of this subject, and an interest 
in it, is imparted by what is here written, and es- 
pecially if it prompt to its further and more mature 
study among the larger and abler expositions re- 
ferred to, the writer of this one will be satisfied. 

It may also be truthfully, and I trust modestly, 
urged as an additional plea for the publication of 
this volume, that, taken as a whole, the thoughts 
and arguments which it presents are original and 
independent; that it contains the result of much 
careful, personal research into the Scriptures and 
other sources, and that the book is therefore not a 
mere repetition "a le perroquet"* of what has al- 
ready been said by others. 

In the treatment of Scripture, that principle of 
interpretation has been followed which is recog- 
nized by Alford, and which is the only rational one, 
viz: that "a figurative sense of words is never ad- 
missible except when required by the context," 
and the effort is uniform and consistent through- 
out this volume, to rescue the truths of Scripture 
from the perversion and corruption which they have 
suffered by the figurative or allegorical method of 
interpretation which is so common and so popular. 

It is very reasonably assumed in these pages 
that the Bible was intended to be a revelation and 
not an obscuration of truth; that the Holy Spirit, 
in the selection and guidance of His various 
amanuenses (by which is meant the original writ- 



ers, and not the mere copyists, including the trans- 
lators) with unerring wisdom provided for the exact 
and clear expression of His mind, or of the truths 
He purposed to reveal; that the office of the exe- 
gete, therefore, in the strict sense of the term, is 
useless and officious, and that no man, nor body of 
men, has ever been commissioned, authorized, or 
qualified to interpret, but simply to teach, the 
Scriptures. The interpretation and elucidation of 
Scripture truth belongs exclusively to the Holy 
Spirit. This is His office, and His alone, and this 
powerful and efficient aid is vouchsafed to every 
candid and believing student of God's Word. If, 
in connection with the study of the Word, it were 
relied upon alone, it should lead ultimately and 
inevitably to uniformity of belief. I say ultimately, 
because all Scripture truth, even with this powerful 
aid, is not grasped or apprehended at once by the 
human mind, no more than is any other truth, 
but progressively; neither is the perceptive power 
of all minds equal. I say it should lead inevitably 
to uniformity of belief, because truth is fixed and 
immutable, and the Holy Spirit, who is declared 
by Christ to be the "Spirit of Truth," can not, 
therefore, teach one thing out of the Word to one 
mind, and contradict that teaching to another 
mind. "God is not the author of confusion." The 
BabH of creeds in the world to-day, which fills the 
mind of the earnest seeker after truth with dismay, 
must not, and can not be charged to the Holy 



Spirit. They are the product of the human exegete, 
alone. 

These remarks do not, of course, apply to the 
symbolic Prophecies. The design of God in these 
Prophecies being, evidently, to reveal certain truths 
in such a way that the unfolding of the history of 
the world and of the race, alone, would make them 
understood, and understood only at and after the 
time they became due. 

Wm. Houliston. 

Minneapolis, Minn. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

NATURE AND MANNER OF THE LORD'S 

RETURN. 

Page. 
Scripture Teaching on This Point — No Obscur- 
ity Nor Ambiguity about it — The Literal 
Personal and Visible Return of Christ Plain- 
ly Taught 13 

CHAPTER II. 
A DIGRESSION. 
Popular Objection to the Doctrine of the Lit- 
eral, Personal, and Visible Advent Dis- 
cussed — Modern Philosophy and Theology 
in Conflict with Scripture and Science — No 
Agreement Between the Soul of Scripture 
and the Philosophical and Theological 
Soul— What is the Soul? 25 

CHAPTER III. 
EXACT TIME OF THE SECOND ADVENT 
UNKNOWN. ITS PROXIMITY DIS- 
CERNIBLE TOWARD THE END 
OF THE AGE. 
Ignorance of the Savior on this Point — Ignor- 
ance of the Apostles— of the Writers of the 



Epistles — of All Men in Apostolic Times — 
of Men Now, and to the End of the Age — 
Proximity of the Event Discernible Toward 
the End of the Age, by the Exhaustive Ful- 
fillment of Prophecy, and by the Signs 47 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE SECOND ADVENT WILL BE PREMIL- 
LENNIAL. 

Testimony of Scripture on this Point — Views of 
the Early Christian Church — The Literal, 
Personal, and Premillennial View Held by 
Able Men and Scholars During Every Age 
of the Church, and Increasingly Prevalent 
Now — Origen as anExegete — His Aims and 
Scheme — Origen Primarily Responsible for 
the Perversion of Christian Truth 71 

CHAPTER V. 

PROPHECIES AND SIGNS. WATCHMAN, 
WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 

Examination of Prophecy — Evidence of the Ap- 
proaching End of the Age and Imminence of 
the Savior's Return — Times, Periods, Dates 
— Views and Computations of Mr. H. Grat- 
tan Guiness — Views and Chart of Mr. J. B. 
Dimbleby, Premier Chronologist to the 
British Chronological and Astronomical 
Association, London — The Principle of 
"Septiform Periodicity ,, — Signs 93 

10 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE MILLENNIUM AND THE FUTURE 
LIFE. 

Popular Idea of the Future Life Fanciful and 
Erroneous — Examination and Analysis of 
One or Two Sample Passages of Scripture 
upon which, as They Appear in Our Com- 
mon Version, the Popular Belief has Its 
Foundation or is Supposed to Have Sup- 
port — What the Scriptures have to Say of 
the Future Life — Old Earth to be the Thea- 
ter of its Manifestation — To be Inaugurated 
by the Resurrection of the "Dead in Christ" 
and the Establishment of the Millennial 
Kingdom — Removal of the Curse — Political 
Features of the Millennial Period — Future 
Life Manifested Through a Material Organ- 
ism — Answer to the Question, "Shall We 
Know Each Other in the Future Life? ,, ... 137 



11 



CHAPTER I. 

NATURE AND MANNER OF THE 

LORD'S RETURN. 

Scripture Teaching on this Point — No Obscurity 

nor Ambiguity about it — The Literal, Personal, 

and Visible Return of Christ Plainly Taught. 

At the risk of being tedious and wearisome to 
the reader, for a few pages, by the multiplication 
and repetition of quotations from the Bible, it is 
purposed to lay down in this chapter, a foundation 
of Scripture testimony, broad, deep, and solid 
enough, not merely to sustain the superstructure 
that shall be reared upon it, but to mock the shafts 
of sophistry which may be hurled against it by 
prejudice and the hostility of theorists. We be- 
speak, therefore, the patience and good nature of 
the reader. 

No ordinarily intelligent person whose mind 
has not been biased in education, or by prevalent 
and popular notions, or, who has not accustomed 
himself, as the result of those influences, to habitual 
juggling with God's word, can read the multiplied 
and various statements of, and references to the 
second coming of Christ, scattered throughout the 
New Testament, and understand them otherwise 
than as meaning a literal, personal and visible re- 
turn of the Lord to this earth. 

13 



In support of the above premises, a few of the 
more explicit and precise statements of Scripture 
on this point may be examined: — statements 
worded with such evidently intentional care and 
definiteness, that they can not be misunderstood, 
but must be deliberately and wilfully preverted or 
set aside, with the intention of avoiding their de- 
structive effect upon the theory of a tropical or 
figurative second coming, or return of Christ The 
explicitness and precision of some of these state- 
ments suggest , if they do not almost force one to 
the conclusion that the Holy Spirit in inditing 
them, aimed to forestall any attempt that might be 
made in later times to corrupt this doctrine, and 
so constructed the statement of it as to thwart and 
defeat the attempt. 

For example: When the Lord was ascending 
from Mount Olivet, and the disciples were gazing 
in astonishment at their departing Lord, "two men 
in white apparel stood by them, which also said, 
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into 
heaven; this same Jesus which is taken up from 
you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as 
ye have seen him go into heaven." 

Now, observe carefully and critically the points 
of emphasis in this passage, and note in these points 
of emphasis, the very obvious intention of fixing 
definitely and beyond all mistake, or all con- 
troversy, two things; first, the identity of the 
Person, or Being, concerning whom the statement 
was made that He should come again, and second ; 



14 



the sense in which His coming was to be under- 
stood, as well as the manner, — the precise manner 
of His advent. 

The points of emphasis are these, "this same 
Jesus" "shall so come" "in like manner" Now 
it is certainly obvious and beyond all dispute that 
the introduction of the adjective same between 
this and Jesus is to emphasize the identity of 
the Person spoken of, viz: Jesus, Jesus himself; 
not his Spirit; not the Holy Spirit; not an influence 
or emanation from Jesus or from God the Father, 
but this same Jesus who was at that moment being 
taken up into heaven, — the resurrected Jesus of 
"flesh and bones" and wounded side and hands, 
who, for the purpose of assuring His disciples of 
His identity some weeks before this event, had 
said "behold My hands and My feet, handle Me 
and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as 
ye see Me have." (Luke 24:39) The same Jesus 
who, a few hours before His death, had promised 
to "drink of the fruit of the vine" with them in 
the kingdom of God, — this still incarnate and ever 
to remain incarnate "Son of God" — none other, 
none different. It is also equally obvious that the 
introduction of the adverb so between shall 
and come is to emphasize the sense in which 
His coming is to be understood, as well as the 
manner of His coming. And, as if such emphatic 
declaration was scarcely strong enough to fix the 
sense, the words "in like manner" are super-added. 

Now, how did He go, for the witnessing dis- 



ciples were assured that He would so come, in 
like manner as they had seen Him go into heaven. 
Why, He simply ascended from the earth, bodily, 
while the disciples were gazing at Him, until a cloud 
received Him out of their sight. It follows, there- 
fore, on the authority of the angelic visitants, 
that He shall so come; that is to say, as He then 
ascended from the earth, so, when He comes again 
He shall descend to the earth; as the cloud re- 
ceived Him out of their sight, so, when He comes 
the clouds will accompany Him; and, as all human 
eyes present at His ascension saw Him go, so, 
when He comes "every eye shall see Him." 

Now, does this accord with other Scripture, and 
can the testimony of these angels be corroborated 
by Scripture? Yes, Jesus said "if I go away I shall 
come again" He had also said, "and then shall 
they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of 
heaven with great power and glory." In Rev. 1 17, 
we read, "Behold He cometh with clouds, and 
every eye shall see Him" Daniel, in prophetic 
vision, says, "and behold one like the Son of Man 

came with the clouds of heaven and there was 

given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom 
etc." 

Thus we have the statement of His reappear- 
ance, or second coming, not only clothed in such 
language, and so constructed, as to render any 
other than a literal interpretation rationally and 
scientifically impossible, but we find the statement 
in accord with, and supported by other Scripture 

16 



statement, and by the words of Jesus, Himself, so 
far as relates to the nature and manner of His 
coming; viz: literally, personally, visibly, and in the 
clouds of heaven. 

The Scriptures so abound with passages re- 
ferring to the second advent of Christ to the 
earth, — three hundred or more of times, I believe, 
it is stated or referred to, — that it almost wearies 
one to make selections. We will however select 
a few for the purpose, especially, of indicating there 
uniformity and harmony, as in the instances cited 
above. 

We read, "For the Lord Himself shall descend 
from Heaven with a shout etc." (Thes. 4:16). "For 
our citizenship is in Heaven, from whence also we 
look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who 
shall change our vile bodies, etc." (Phil. 3:20„2i). 
"Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your 
sins may be blotted out, when the times of refresh- 
ing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and 
He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was 
preached unto you; whom the Heavens must re- 
ceive until the times of restitution of all things, 
which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His 
Holy Prophets since the world began." (Acts 3:19, 
20,21). In these passages we have the identity of 
the Savior again emphasized, as in the ones 
formerly quoted. "The Lord Himself." "We look 
for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" "He shall 
send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto 
you" This same Jesus, you see. 

17 



Not only this, but these passages, by the only 
honest and fair interpretation, affirm His descent 
or return to earth. "The Lord Himself shall de- 
scend from Heaven," "Our Citizenship is in 
Heaven, whence also we look for the Savior," "He 
shall send Jesus Christ, whom the heavens must re- 
ceive until the times of restitution of all things," 
"then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the 
clouds." 

Nothing, it w y ould seem, but the blindest and 
most obstinate devotion to some extra-biblical the- 
ory of the second advent could obscure the light 
or resist the force of these explicit and emphatic 
statements of the literal, personal, and visible re- 
turn of our Lord. 

Compare now Math. 24: 26, 27, with Rev. 1: 7. 
In the former we read, "wherefore if they shall say 
unto you, behold He is in the desert; go not forth, 
behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not; 
for as the lightning cometh out of the east and 
shineth even unto the west, so shall also the com- 
ing of the Son of Man be." The meaning of these 
words to any candid mind is quite obvious. It is 
this, — the Savior warns them against deception 
from false christs who, He said, should appear in 
the course of the events or signs preceding the end 
of the age, so that, if any one should say, "lo, here 
He is, or lo there, or behold He is in the desert," 
etc., it must not be believed; because, the coming 
of the Son of Man will be universally visible and 
universally recognized. No one will need to be 

18 



told of it, when it occurs, for all will see it, and all 
will know it, just as in the case of the lightning 
which, though the electric discharge comes from a 
cloud in the eastern horizon, nevertheless it flashes 
its lurid light from east to west, and through all 
the space within the visible circle of the heavens, — 
from the one part under heaven, as Luke has it, to 
the other part under heaven, — so that every one 
who is not blind must see it and know it. Now 
read Rev. i : 7, "Behold He cometh with clouds 
and every eye shall see Him" 

Indeed, the terms most frequently used to ex- 
press His second coming, suggest, if they do not 
assert it, that the event is one which is especially 
cognizable to the sense of sight; as, for example, 
the following: "To them that look for Him, shall 
He appear the second time, etc/' "Looking for 
that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of 
the Great God and our Savior." "For we know 
that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, 
for w<e shall see Him as He is." "See that thou 
keep the commandment without spot, unrebukable, 
until the appearing of our Lord." "I charge thee, 
therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, 
who shall judge the quick and the dead at His ap- 
pearing and kingdom," and a multitude of other 
passages. 

Only a small portion of the evidence from 
Scripture has been given to prove the literality, 
personality, and visibility of Christ's second com- 
ing, but it is already overwhelming. Such fanciful 

19 



notions, therefore, as that by Christ's second com- 
ing we are to understand His invisible presence and 
influence at conversion, or His presence either in 
person or representatively at the death of the be- 
liever, are utterly without warrant from Scripture 
yea more, they are a flagrant perversion of Scrip- 
ture. 

But, to settle more effectually and completely 
the assumption of any Scriptural warrant, or even 
permission for these notions we have only to turn 
to John 21 : 18, where we read, — "Verily, verily I 
say unto thee (that is to Peter) when thou wast 
young, thou girdedest thyself, and walkedest 
whither thou wouldst, but when thou shalt be old, 
thou shalt stretch forth thine hands, and another 
shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou 
wouldst not. This spake He, signifying by what 
death he (Peter) should glorify God, and when He 
had spoken this, He (Christ) saith unto him (Peter) 
follow me. Then Peter turning about seeth the 
disciple whom Jesus loved (that is John) follow- 
ing; * * * Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, 
Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith 
unto him, if I will that he tarry till I come, what 
is that to thee? Follow thou me. Then went this 
saying abroad among the brethren, that that disci- 
ple (John) should not die." Now, as every one 
knows, Christ here foretold Peter's death by mar- 
tyrdom, and as Peter was very curious or anxious 
to know what would be the fate of John, his be- 
loved friend and companion, he asks the question 

20 



of Jesus, what should become of John. The reply 
of Jesus is, "if I will that he tarry till I come what 
is that to thee?'' and we are very carefully told that 
Jesus did not positively say or predict that John 
should remain alive till His coming again, but 
that He simply said to Peter, that if it should be 
His (Jesus') purpose that John should remain alive 
till He came again, what concern was it of Peter's? 

But, in doing this, Jesus has most emphatically 
distinguished between these two events, viz.: be- 
tween the death of a believer, and His own second 
coming. Peter's dying, it is here practically af- 
firmed would not be tarrying till Christ's second 
coming, and John's tarrying till Christ came would 
not be death for John. Thus the death of a be- 
liever is not Christ's second coming. 

Now we will proceed to show that conversion 
is not Christ's second coming. Turn to Acts, 3: 
19. We read, "repent ye, therefore, and be con- 
verted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the 
times of refreshing shall come from the presence of 
the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ, which 
before was preached unto you; whom the heavens 
must receive until the times of restitution of all 
things, etc." 

In the first place we remark, the exhortation 
here is to be converted first, as preparatory to the 
second coming of Christ, therefore, these two 
things can not be identical. In the second place 
the exhortation is to be converted now, while Je- 
sus' second coming is, in the same passage, said 



21 



to be due only at the time of the restitution of all 
things; — the heavens must receive or hold Him 
until then, — that is, until the restoration of crea- 
tion or of the earth to its primal condition, or as 
it was before the curse. 

Before closing this part of the theme, let us 
ask this question: If Christ's second coming were 
not literal, personal, and visible, what application is 
possible, and what congruity is there in the warn- 
ing given to the disciples concerning false christs, 
who should appear in the course of the age "shew- 
ing great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it 
were possible they shall deceive the very elect ?" 
Are not these false christs who exercise those pow- 
ers, literal, visible persons? And, if they are, 
which must be admitted, must not the elect be 
sadly ignorant of the spiritual nature of Christ's 
second coming, when they are so imminently liable 
to be deceived by these gross, material, and visible 
imposters? Or, on the other hand, must not the 
coming of these false christs, material and personal 
as they are, present a very striking resemblance to, 
and correspondence with the true advent, to prove 
so dangerously deceptive, even to the "very elect?" 

So much as to what the Scriptures, at least, 
teach with reference to the nature and manner of 
the Second Advent, and it is equally clear, from 
the writings of the early Fathers, as will be shown 
later on, that these were the views and teachings 
of the apostolic and early Christian Churches. 
And, outside of these writings, among the inscrip- 

22 



tions on the tombs in the catacombs of Rome, and 
from other sources, the evidence is not only abun- 
dant, but overwhelming on this point. It is sim- 
ply impossible for any person well informed on this 
subject to doubt this, and they only, among those 
who reject the doctrine of the personal return of 
the Lord, are rational, who admit that these are 
indeed the teachings of Scripture, and were the 
views of the early Christian Church, but who claim 
that this was due to the misapprehension of the 
writers of Scripture, and the ignorance of the 
Church; the crudity and immaturity of its religious 
ideas and conceptions, and that, as it grew older, 
and its religious ideas developed or evolved, as the 
result of greater spiritual enlightenment and in- 
tellectual expansion, these gross and materialistic 
notions were abandoned. 

For this latter opinion, how r ever, with all its 
show of fairness, w r e have no respect, as it practi- 
cally repudiates the Bible as the Word of God, and 
a divinely inspired record of revealed truth, and is 
nothing more nor less than a masked and hypo- 
critical deism. Moreover, it is a characteristic 
product of the self-conceit of the present age, which 
arrogates to itself intellectual superiority over all 
past ages. 

The Bible either is, or it is not, the Word of 
God. If it is, its plain teaching may not be ignored 
nor set aside because it conflicts with the philoso- 
phies of men, or because it is materialistic. Its 
teachings are, it is true, materialistic, and immeas- 

23 






urable injury has been done to truth by the attempt 
in all ages to spiritualize and etherialize those 
teachings so as to adapt them to human philoso- 
phy. 

The Bible teaches uniformly and unequivocally 
the restoration of the earth to its primal condition; 
to its edenic perfection and splendor, and the resur- 
rection of man to dwell therein. This was the 
hope of Paul as stated by himself on the occasion 
of his examination before the Roman centurion 
and the high* priest Ananias. It was the hope of 
the Jews, as further affirmed by the same apostle 
in his superb speech before Agrippa (Acts 26:1, 
8, 9). It was his theme on Mars hill, and appar- 
ently, his theme everywhere, for we are told that 
he went everywhere ''preaching Christ and the 
resurrection," — not the resurrection of Christ, but 
the resurrection of the dead, through Christ, who 
was the earnest and first fruits of them that sleep. 
From the promise to Abraham that he should 
be "the heir of the world," (as explained by the 
apostle, Rom. 3:4) to the sermon on the mount, 
where Jesus taught that "the meek shall inherit the 
earth," and indeed from Genesis to Revelation, this 
is the plain and obvious teaching of Scripture. 



24 



CHAPTER II. 

A DIGRESSION. 

Popular Objection to the Doctrine of the Literal 
Advent Discussed. — Modern Philosophy and 
Theology in Conflict With Scripture and 
Science. — No Agreement Between the Soul of 
Scripture and the Philosophical and Theologi- 
cal Soul. — What is the Soul? 

Perhaps it will be profitable and helpful at this 
point to digress from the main subject, to discuss 
at some length the ground of the popular objec- 
tion to the literal and personal return of our Lord. 

The ground of objection is, as we have inti- 
mated, that this view or conception of the second 
advent is gross, materialistic, and unphilosophical. 
We wish to say first, that philosophy, notwith- 
standing the pretentious etymology of the term 
used to designate it, is not by any means unerring- 
wisdom or knowledge; much less is it absolute 
truth. Much of philosophy is sheer speculation, 
fancy, imagination, and in some of its departments 
it is in demonstrable conflict with both science and 
truth. Especially is this the case in its theological, 
psychological, and anthropological departments. 

Alas for the integrity of religious truth, and 

25 



particularly of Christian truth, the poison of Gre- 
cian philosophy in general, and of Neo-Platonism 
in particular, has shattered it in every nerve and 
fibre, and almost annihilated it. Christian truth, 
even in its early propagation by the Apostles, had 
no more subtle, dangerous, and persistent foe, and 
the teachers of Christianity had to be ever watch- 
ful to resist the insidious encroachments of a foe 
whose aims and assaults, where successful, were 
always more or less ruinous to truth. Again and 
again had Paul to warn his pupils and converts 
against "philosophy and vain deceit/' and "science 
falsely so called. " 

The fact is, as any careful and unbiased student 
can satisfactorily prove for himself, that, with refer- 
ence to the question of man's future, the funda- 
mental difference between the teaching of Christ 
and his apostles on the one hand, and the current 
philosophy of the world at that day, on the other, 
was, that the Christians taught a future life through 
a resurrection or re-living of the body, or organ- 
ism, — changed somewhat, it is true, as to its ele- 
ments and powers, but not as to its identity, — 
while philosophy taught the immortality of the 
soul, as the conscious and intelligent part of 
man, which death and the dissolution of the body 
only liberated. 

Philosophy has not changed. To-day, in the 
three departments referred to, in dealing with the 
subject of man, — his structure and nature, — it pos- 
tulates a soul to which it assigns certain charac- 



26 



teristics and powers, and which it constitutes the 
seat and source of reason, intelligence, of all moral 
attributes, and of consciousness, of course, as these 
other functions and powers imply and demand the 
latter. 

Sir William Hamilton says, "Man is not an 
organism, he is an intelligence served by an or- 
ganism. " This proposition contains the whole 
modern philosophical idea of the nature of man, 
and expresses concisely and accurately the popu- 
lar notion. But, it does not rest on scientific 
ground. It is purely metaphysical. So far as 
science speaks or can speak on the subject, it con- 
tradicts and reverses this proposition. It affirms 
that man is an organism, and is intelligent as an 
organism, and because he is an organism, the rela- 
tive intelligence in individuals, as to both quantity 
and quality, being dependent upon the structure 
and condition of their respective organisms, plus 
or minus, of course, the culture applied to each. 
It affirms that consciousness and intelligence cease 
when the functions of the organism cease, and that 
when man dies, and the dissolution of the body 
takes place, he is practically extinct. The logical 
corrollary, therefore, is, that if ever man returns 
to consciousness hereafter, it will be when, in the 
resurrection, by the omnific power of God he is 
reorganized, — not necessarily by a recombination 
of the same materials, or materials of the same 
kind, but by a combination of materials of some 
kind. And, this is precisely the teachings of Scrip- 

27 



ture, — the teaching of Christ and the apostles. 
Man has a body now, and he is to have one here- 
after. The present one has been designated a 
natural body, the future one a spiritual body, — a 
body at all events, not an "immaterial spirit" not 
a phantasm, not a formless, intangible, invisible 
nothing, but a body, and very reasonably so, for, 
if the saints are to live and reign with Christ for a 
millennium on this material earth, as taught by 
Scripture, if they are to sit upon thrones (that num- 
ber of them at least whose privilege this will be) 
judging the twelve tribes of Israel, if they are to 
sit down with Christ in His Kingdom, and drink 
with Him "of the fruit of the vine" as He prom- 
ised them He would, then they must have material 
bodies. [See chapter VI, Quotation from McClin- 
tock & Strong's Encyclopedia.] 

The philosophical soul is immaterial and im- 
mortal, and the human body, which in some mys- 
terious way it inhabits and controls (that is to say 
when the soul is not, according to another and 
somewhat contradictory principle of the same phil- 
osophy, dominated and controlled by the body) — 
the body, we repeat, is philosophically, a material 
organism of merely temporary use and conveni- 
ence, serving only to put the soul into visible and 
tangible relations to the material universe, but not 
at all necessary to consciousness or intelligence, or 
to that which is expressed in the phrase mental 
phenomena, all of which the soul is supposed to 



28 



exercise independently of the body, and after the 
body has actually crumbled into dust. 

To this cherished idea of philosophy, which has 
persisted through nearly all the ages, and which 
seems as tenacious of existence and as immortal as 
the human soul of its own conception, stands 
opposed, fairly and squarely, as we have said, both 
the Bible and science. The Bible wherever it 
speaks didactically or positively on the subject, as- 
serts in the strongest terms the obliteration and 
destruction of all consciousness and all mental ac- 
tion or phenomena in man, — not in his body, — 
but in man, at death, and teaches a common recep- 
tacle for all men, at death, viz.: hades or the grave. 
It teaches a future life only through and by a resur- 
rection or re-living of the body, which is always 
put remotely in the future, and is not a resurrec- 
tion one by one of individuals, but a general resur- 
rection, or to state it more exactly, a resurrection 
in the mass, but in two divisions, and at two differ- 
ent times, of all mankind, — a first resurrection of 
the "dead in Christ, ,, and afterwards a resurrection 
of "the rest of the dead." 

In support of what is here said with reference 
to the obliteration of consciousness in man at 
death, as taught in the Scriptures, we will not quote 
at any length, but will give a sample passage or 
two, and refer the reader who wishes to investigate 
the subject more thoroughly to a tract published 
by the "Scriptural Publication Society/' of Yar- 
mouth, Maine, entitled "Man in Death," by Bishop 

29 



Law. The texts we offer, and which might be 
multiplied many times, are these: Eel. 9:5, "For 
the living know that they shall die, but the dead 
know not anything, * * * Also their love and 
their hatred and their envy is noiv perished." Also, 
Psalms 146:4, "His (man's) breath goeth forth, he 
returneth to his earth; in that very day his 
thoughts perish" To say that this refers to the 
body and not to the soul, is begging the whole 
question. Upon what authority, pray, is this as- 
sumption? Not upon that of Scripture, certainly, 
for it makes no such distinction, and affords utterly 
no warrant for the philosophical use of the word 
soul. 

But, as we have before stated, not only is the 
Bible opposed to this idea, but so also is science. 
Science recognizes a vitalizing and energizing 
principle inherent in all animated beings, and com- 
mon to them all, which is called life. It has, in 
and of itself, no consciousness nor intelligence. It 
can not think nor act except through a material 
organism with correlated parts, but, given such an 
organism, this principle furnishes the energy or 
force, and starts and maintains the function of the 
organism, in all its parts. When, therefore, any 
vital part or organ is injured or destroyed, so as to 
render it useless, this principle is powerless to 
maintain the function, and death and dissolution 
ensue, and all consciousness ceases, for conscious- 
ness is the result of the action of the brain and 
nerves. When that action ceases, — when the fu'nc- 



30 



tion of the brain ceases, consciousness ceases, and 
all mental phenomena. 

From a number of opinions on this subject pub- 
lished in a work entitled "Science and Immortal- 
ity," edited by Samuel J. Barrows, and published 
by Geo. H. Ellis, Boston, we select the following 
of Lester F. Ward, A. M., of the Smithsonian In- 
stitution, Washington, D. C. He says, 'The con- 
sciousness, when scientifically examined, reveals it- 
self as a quality of brain, or mode of manifestation 
of the molecular activities of the organized brain 
substance. It is a universal induction of science 
that modification of brain is accompanied by modi- 
fication of consciousness. No exception to this 
law has ever been discovered. The conclusion is, 
therefore, almost a necessary one that brain is the 
cause of consciousness, and that consciousness de- 
pends upon and varies with the nature and condi- 
tion of the brain. * * * It follows that so far 
as science can speak on the subject, the conscious- 
ness persists as long as the organized brain, and 
no longer. * * * The immortality of science 
is the eternity of matter and its motions in the pro- 
duction of phenomena, and science will object to 
all unphilosophical attempts to confound phenome- 
non with these."* 



* Lest any of my readers who may have seen the symposium of 
opinions edited by Mr. Barrows from which I have quoted, and who may 
be acquainted with the materialism of Mr. Ward, and his lack of 
sympathy with revealed truth, should think me partial or unfair in 
limiting my quotations to one drawn from the opinion of Mr. Ward, and 
thus from that class of opinions which incline to the materalistic side of 
the question, I will quote also from the opinion of Chas. A. Young - . 
LLD., Prof, of Astronomy in Princeton College, N. J., taken from the 

31 



But, expert testimony like the above, interest- 
ing and valuable as it is, is not essential to the sup- 
port of a fact or truth, the evidence and proofs of 
which are constantly passing under common ob- 
servation, and which come' quite within the range 
of the intelligence and comprehension of ordinary 
men. Fresh illustrations of the complete depend- 
ence of human consciousness, and of human intel- , 
ligence as well, upon the healthy function of the 
brain, are being furnished every day, all around us, 
and one need only look and reflect a little to dis- 
cover this truth. 

At the risk of prolonging this digression be- 
yond due bounds, we feel impelled to give an illus- 
tration: A man falls, or is struck a heavy blow 
upon the head. Immediately, consciousness, all 
mental phenomena, and voluntary motion are sus- 

same symposium, as a fair representation of the argument on the other 
side, but in doing so will take the liberty of pointing out the weakness of 
his argument. I quote: — "The fact that, when I (ego) determine to 
raise my hand, a certain definite change takes place in certain brain- 
cells, and a stimulous then sets out and makes its way from the brain 
along certain nerve-fibres, with an ascertainable speed, till it reaches 
certain muscular fibres, which in consequence contract and lift the arm., 
this is all interesting ; but it neither proves that my brain is myself, nor 
does it in the least explain the nature of the connection between my 
will and the brain-cells where the physical chain of action seems to 
originate. * * * And so I cannot accept the materialistic hypothesis as 
scientifically satisfactory, and am forced to consider it as much more 
probable that the man is more than his body, and likely to survive it." 
Now, the weak point in this argument — and it is so conspicuous as 
to scarcely require pointing out — is this, that if it is of any value either 
as a proof or a mere intimation that " man is more than his body, and 
likely to survive it," it is of equal value as a proof or intimation that the 
inferior animal — that a dog, for instance, "is more than his body and 
likely to survive it," since his action, also, is determined in precisely the 
same way, and by the same processes. The dog, also, has an ego and a 
will, and the only difference between man and the inferior animal, so far 
as Mr. Young's illustration is concerned, is one of relative intelligence in 
determining and guiding their respective action. And so, upon further 
reflection, we find that the will is qualified by the intelligence, and not 
the intelligence by the will. The will, therefore is not first, but the 
intelligence, and intelligence scientifically considered and popularly 
acknowledged is a quality of brain substance. 

32 



pended; it may be only for a few moments, or it 
may be for hours or days. That part of the ma- 
terial organism called the brain has been injured, 
or disturbed in its function, with the result that 
that man's life becomes a perfect blank during the 
period of such suspended function. He knows 
nothing, and feels nothing, and all intellectual pro- 
cesses cease, and, when the function of the brain is 
again restored, consciousness returns, and all men- 
tal operations begin precisely where they left off. 

The most marked case the writer has ever heard 
of, is that of the naval officer who was struck by a 
flying missile from a bursting shell, during an en- 
gagement, and just as he was giving a command to 
his men. The command was only half uttered 
when the blow and resulting unconsciousness 
came. He was placed in a hospital where he re- 
mained unconscious for weeks. A piece of the 
skull, which had been fractured by the missile, was 
piessing down upon the brain, and on being dis- 
covered was removed, and at once consciousness 
returned, and, as it was returning, immediately, he 
finished the word of command to his men. 

In the terms employed by Mr. Ward, "the 
molecular activities of the organized brain sub- 
stance" had been suddenly arrested by the me- 
chanical pressure upon it of the piece of bone. As 
soon as that pressure was removed, they were re- 
stored, and consciousness and the whole mental 
function returned, beginning precisely where it had 
left off. As though he had been a machine, — :i 



33 



phonograph, for instance, into whose mechanism 
some foreign substance had been thrust while it 
was articulating a sentence, and before it was more 
than half through with it. Instantly the phono- 
graph stops, remains silent for weeks until the in- 
truder is removed when, immediately, it takes up 
the sentence again where it had left off, and com- 
pletes it. 

Thus science, common observation, and Scrip- 
ture are in accord as to the need of a material or- 
ganism in order to consciousness and all mental 
activity. At least, there is absolutely nothing from 
either of these sources to warrant the assumption 
that consciousness and intelligence are possible 
without it. Philosophy, on the other hand, and 
without any proofs, asserts the contrary, and is 
therefore in conflict alike with the Scriptures and 
with science, properly so called. 

A curious question suggests itself with refer- 
ence to the illustration above given, when the phil- 
osophical hypothesis is considered that the seat and 
source of consciousness, as w T ell as of intelligence 
and all mental and moral phenomena in man, re- 
sides in the soul, using that term, of course, in its 
philosophical sense. The question is this: Where 
was the soul of this officer during the weeks of sus- 
pended brain function? It could not have left the 
body, because, according to the same philosophy, 
the separation of soul and body does not occur till 
death, and the man was not dead. It must, there- 
fore, if it existed at all, have been present in the 

34 



body. But, if so, why is it that the period of sus- 
pended brain function remains forever an absolute 
blank in the man's consciousness? 

But, to what is here said it will likely be re- 
plied that the Bible recognizes, and speaks fre- 
quently of the soul and that therefore the soul is 
no mere postulate of philosophy as here asserted, 
but is a fact of Revelation. 

The Bible does, indeed, very frequently speak 
of the soul, and of the spirit also, — two distinct 
terms, by the way, indicating two different things, 
and never confounded together in Scripture as 
they are in philosophy and in the popular thought, 
but, there is not the least identity between either 
the spirit or the soul of Scripture, and the theologi- 
cal or philosophical soul. 

The spirit of Scripture is identical with the 
biological principle of life. It is the vitalizing 
principle or force that animates or energizes the 
organism of all sentient creatures, and it is applied 
in the Scriptures indiscriminately to men and in- 
ferior animals, as in Eel. 3: 21, "Who knoweth the 
spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of 
the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" 
This, by the way, is a peculiar passage, whose 
meaning can only be conjectured. Perhaps the 
thought is, that the spirit or life of man "returns to 
God who gave it" to be held or reserved until the 
resurrection of his organism, agreeably to other 
statements of Scripture, as "your life is hid with 
Christ in God." "When Christ, who is our life, 

35 



shall appear (to resurrect the dead organism) then 
shall we appear with Him in glory; that is, in our 
glorified body, but the spirit or life of the beast 
goes down with it to the earth never to be restored. 

The etymology of the word spirit is significant 
of its meaning. The French cyclopedia entitled 
u Le Grand Distionnaire Universel du XIX Sli- 
de" under the word "Esprit" (spirit) says: 
"Spirit, from spiritus, properly breath, respiration, 
from the Latin 'Spiro," I breathe; same as San- 
scrit 'Spar/ to live, to respire; from which also the 
Sanscrit 'Spartar/ breath, exactly the Latin 'Spir- 
itus.' " The etymology given in the work referred 
to is very comprehensive. We recommend it to 
the reader who understands French. 

The Century Dictionary, under the word 
"Spirit" says: The primitive and natural notion 
of life was that it consisted of the breath, and in 
most languages, words etymologically signifying 
breath are used to mean the principle of life." 

What is true of the spirit of Scripture is also 
true of the soul of Scripture. It has no identity 
whatever with the soul of theology or philoso- 
phy. It has absolutely nothing in common with 
the soul of theology or philosophy. The soul 
of the latter is an exclusive possession of man. 
The lower animals, according to philosophy, are 
soulless, but the soul of Scripture is applied to 
men and animals alike. Both are said to be souls^ 
and both are said to have souls. Again, the soul 
of philosophy is never identified with the body. 

36 



The sharpest distinction is always made by phil- 
osophy between the soul and the body, but the 
Scriptures, with but two solitary exceptions, which 
will be presently noticed, make absolutely no such 
distinction, but use the term soul continually 
to express the person or individual, even when the 
obvious reference is to the body, thus making the 
terms body and soul interchangeable and of 
the same import. Take such passages, for in- 
stance, as Num. 9: 6, "and there were certain men, 
who were defiled by the dead body (soul in the 
original) of a man," also verses 7 and 10, and chap. 
9:6, Lev. 11:43, 44> Lev. 21: 11, besides a multi- 
tude of passages of another class, of which the fol- 
lowing are examples: Num. 21:5, "and our soul 
loatheth this light bread;" Num. 11:6, "but now 
our soul is dried away;" Prov. 27 ': 7, "The full sou] 
loatheth an honey comb, but to the hungry soul 
every bitter thing is sweet; "Luke 12: 19, "and I 
will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast many goods 
laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, 
and be merry." This last passage furnished Ma- 
thew Henry an occasion for making some very ab- 
surd comments, wherein it is very obvious that 
Christ who uttered the parable, and Mathew Henry 
who commented upon it, were widely at variance 
in their ideas with reference to the nature of the 
soul. In the parable, Christ makes the rich man 
say to his soul "eat, drink, and be merry," thus 
identifying it with the physical organism. On the 
contrary, Mathew Henry, commenting on this self- 



37 



gratulatory speech of the rich man, holds him up 
to scorn and ridicule for addressing these words to 
his soul, as though his soul could be satisfied with 
material things, thus showing that he held the pop- 
ular notion of the immateriality of the soul, and of 
its distinction from the body, — in short, shows his 
agreement with the philosophical idea of the soul. 
The folly with which, in this parable, the Savior 
charges the rich man has no reference to his having 
offered material comforts to his soul, but to the 
fact of his concentrating all his thought and inter- 
est in the pleasures of this life, ignoring its uncer- 
tainty, and the necessity of making preparation for 
the life to come. Indeed, if the soul is immaterial, 
and the rich man be supposed to have known it, 
then, his proposition to regale it from the contents 
of his barns, while it has no moral quality to justify 
the parable or point a moral lesson, stamps him as 
something more than a mere "fool," as charged by 
our Savior. He could have been nothing short of 
an idiot. 

Again, pursuing still further this contrast be- 
tween the soul of philosophy and that of Scripture, 
we observe that the soul of philosophy is immor- 
tal, while the soul of Scripture is mortal, since, 
aside from the passages quoted above in which 
souls are spoken of as being dead, it is the express 
testimony of Scripture that "the soul that sinneth, 
it shall die." The soul of philosophy, being im- 
mortal, is also indestructible, but the soul of Scrip- 



38 



ture may, and in multitudes of cases it will be de- 
stroyed by God in the "Gehenna fire." 

As examples of the indiscriminate use or appli- 
cation in Scripture of the term soul to men and 
inferior animals we quote from the record of crea- 
tion given in Genesis (chap. I and 2) giving them 
to the reader as they stand in the original Hebrew 
text, as the English Version has deliberately 
changed the text, having been, without doubt, in- 
fluenced by the philosophical notion that men 
only had souls. 

Gen. 1 : 20, "Let the waters bring forth abun- 
dantly the moving (or creeping) creature that hath 
(Heb. nephesh chayah) a living soul," as in the 
margin of the E. V.) 

Gen. 1:21, "God created great whales and 
every living soul (Heb. nephesh chayah) that mov- 
eth (or creepeth) which the waters brought forth." 

Gen. i : 24, "God said, let the earth bring forth 
the living soul (Heb. nephesh chayah) after his 
kind." 

Gen. 1:20, "To every soul (Heb. nephesh) that 
creepeth upon the earth." 

Gen. 2:7, "Man became a living soul" (Heb. 
nephesh chayah.) 

Gen. 2: 19, "And out of the ground the Lord 
God formed every beast of the field, and every 
fowl of the air, and brought them to Adam to see 
what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam 
called every living soul, (Heb. nephesh chayah) 
that was the name thereof." 



39 



It will be observed in the above quotations, that 
the moving or creeping creatures which the waters 
brought forth are said to be living souls, and to 
have living souls. So far, therefore, as the soul 
is concerned, man enjoys no distinction whatever 
over the beast, and whatever the soul or living soul 
may be, the lower animals and all sentient creatures 
have it. 

It would be almost a waste of time to consider 
here that use of the word soul in the Bible and 
in other literature, by which it is put for the 
thoughts, feelings, will, affections, emotions, etc., 
just as the various organs of the body were used, 
and indeed still are, to some extent, to indicate the 
feelings, etc. We are all familiar with this; and 
the reason for such use is not far nor hard to find. 
It grew out of the popular error which located the 
passions, emotions, feelings, etc., in these organs, 
viz. : the heart, the liver, the reins or kidneys, 
bowels, etc., as, for instance Ps. 16:7, "my reins 
also instruct me in the night seasons/' (9th verse) 
"Therefore, my heart is glad, and my glory (liver) 
rejoiceth." Ps. 34:2, "My soul shall make her 
boast in the Lord." 1st John 3: 17, "Bowels of 
compassion," or, as it is in the original, simply 
"bowels. " Passing this, there remains to be con- 
sidered the most difficult passages of Scripture 
touching the soul, of which there are, perhaps, but 
two. They are these, "the whole of you, the spirit, 
and the soul, and the body," 1st Thes. 5:23, and 



40 



Math. 10:28, "fear not them which kill the body 
but are not able to kill the soul, etc." 

It will be noticed that the spirit is here distin- 
guished from the soul and the body, and it has 
already been shown that the spirit is the life princi- 
ple. What then, in these passages is intended to 
be expressed by the word soul as distinct from 
the mere body? We have just shown that the 
term soid as applied in Scripture refers to the 
person or to the individual whether of men 
or animals. It seems to have a wider or more 
comprehensive meaning than the term body, 
which hardly expresses more than the mere mass 
of corporeal matter of w T hich the individual is com- 
posed, and which is common to all individuals. 
Our conception is that it serves to express the in- 
dividual in those qualities or attributes which dis- 
tinguish him from all other individuals; that it re- 
fers to that which, in every animate or living 
creature, individualizes it and distinguishes it from 
every other living creature, whether of the same 
kind, or belonging to other forms of living 
creatures that now exist, that ever have existed, or 
that ever will exist throughout the universe during 
the endless cycles of eternity. In other words, its 
individuality or identity, as to form and feature, 
and mental and moral attributes, if not physical 
ones, and w r e are inclined to the belief that it in- 
cludes even these. 

The mere mass or aggregation of corporeal 
matter; the molecular combinations which con- 



41 



struct the organism are dissolved at death, and the 
organism, — the body is thus destroyed; abso- 
lutely destroyed, as it is resolved into the original 
atoms of matter which composed it, and is dis- 
persed through various other organic forms, never 
again to be reassembled in the same body, but the 
individuality; that which distinguished the man or 
the individual from all others; the very kernel, so 
to speak of his being, and which the organism 
manifested; in other words the soul, as we believe 
it is, can not be destroyed, but simply ceases its 
manifested existence, as, in the mind of God, where 
it originated, and where alone it now continues to 
exist, — in the mind of God, we say, — in the eternal 
councils and purposes of the Almighty, a day has 
been set apart when He will reorganize and re- 
vivify this "sleeping" soul. 

But, lest we should appear to contradict our- 
selves, having only a moment ago affirmed that the 
soul of Scripture is destructible, we wish to qualify 
this latter statement by saying that, it cannot be 
destroyed neither by the violent hand of man, nor 
by any of the accidents or processes of whatever 
kind or nature which deprive of life or "destroy 
the body," but, in the second death, by the "Gehen- 
na fire," which puts an end forever to the actual ex- 
istence of a certain class of persons, such souls are 
practically and permanently destroyed. 

But, resuming the thought interrupted by the 
above parenthetic clause, let it be remembered that 
things or persons not yet in existence, and things or 



42 



persons whose existence has actually ceased, do, 
nevertheless, exist in the mind, so to speak, of God. 
This is a necessary deduction from what we con- 
ceive to be the nature and power of the Deity, who 
knows the end from the beginning, and who planned 
the entire universe before its construction was be- 
gun, and whose infinite mind reaches both ways, 
and grasps everything between the two eternities. 

There are passages of Scripture which intimate 
what is above suggested with reference to the ex- 
istence of the individual in the mind of God both 
before and after his actual existence. In the 139th 
Psalm, 16th verse, we read, "Thine eyes did see 
my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book 
all my members were written, which in continu- 
ance were fashioned, when as yet there was none 
of them." This passage suggests the existence of 
the psalmist, in the mind of God, before the process 
of his development, — before his actual existence. 
In Isaiah, chap. 45:3 and 4, Cyrus the Persian 
monarch, was named by the Almighty, over one 
hundred years before he came into actual existence. 
Indeed, all prophecy is full of illustrations. 

The discussion between Christ and the Sad- 
ducees on the subject of the resurrection, as re- 
corded by Luke (Chap. 20) is full of the suggestion 
that men, especially righteous men, have an exist- 
ence in the mind of God, and in his purposes with 
reference to the future, after they cease to exist, in 
fact. Especial attention is called to the 38th verse, 



43 



"For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living; 
for all live unto him." 

Read the whole narrative, and remember that 
the discussion here recorded was as to the resur- 
rection of dead men, and not as some, with incom- 
prehensible obtuseness of perception imagine a 
discussion as to whether dead men, or men sup- 
posed to be dead, were or were not still alive. 
Neither is the argument of Christ intended to 
prove a resurrection of any kind, literal or figura- 
tive, as having already taken place, with reference 
to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as well as all others 
already dead, nor as taking place every day, or all 
the time with reference to those who were dying. 
This was the heresy of Hymenaeus and Philetus 
recorded and condemned in Paul's letter to Timo- 
thy (2d Tim. 2: 17, 18). No, Christ's argument 
was, that as God had declared to Moses out of the 
burning bush, "I am the God of Abraham, the God 
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," and as God is not 
the God of the dead but of the living, there would 
therefore, most assuredly, be a resurrection of 
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and of all the dead, 
and that God was justified in saying that He was 
the God of xAbraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all dead 
men, only in view of the fact that "all live unto 
Him," anticipatively, because of the coming resur- 
rection. And it is to this incident, — the discus- 
sion between Christ and the Sadducees, — that Paul 
has reference when he says (Rom. 4: 17), "God, 



44: 



who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things 
that be not as though they were/' 

Since writing the foregoing, a note appended to 
the seventh page of the second volume of Milman's 
Edition of Gibbon's ''Decline and Fall of the Ro- 
man Empire/' has fallen under our observation, in 
which Mr. Guizot, whose note it is, takes exception 
to Mr. Gibbon's view of Plato's philosophy with 
reference especially to the nature of the Deity and 
of the material world. In discussing this miscon- 
ception of Mr. Gibbon, which is not his alone, ap- 
parently, but a popular one, he brings to light the 
essential idea of Plato relative to the psyche or 
soul, — not, it is true, the human soul, particularly, 
but the soul in general, which Plato in his philoso- 
phy assigns, it appears, to all matter. 

While not in the least degree disposed to at- 
tach any particular importance or value to the 
metaphysical speculations of Plato upon this im- 
penetrable subject, who, without any doubt, knew 
no more about it than any one else, whatever may 
have been his superior genius in the line of philo- 
sophical speculation, yet, it is interesting to us to 
note, and to point out the fact, that his idea of the 
soul, if we understand Mr. Guizot aright, is pre- 
cisely identical with the conception of it as given 
in this chapter. "An attentive examination," says 
Mr. Guizot, "is sufficient to convince us that he 
(Plato) has never assigned it (the soul) an exist- 
ence external to the Deity (hors de la Divinite)" 
and he substantially says that the soul, according to 

45 



Plato, is the ideal, in the intelligence of the Deity, 
of the form and motion and function which he puts 
into matter. Plato's philosophy embraced, as one 
of its primary and fundamental principles, the eter 
nity of matter, as well as the eternity of God. 

We feel sure the reader will pardon this long 
digression which, perhaps, may have the merit of 
having thrown some light upon a subject which, in 
the popular mind, is in great obscurity, — a digres- 
sion, too, which seemed necessary, in order to an- 
ticipate and defeat the unreasonable objection that 
the view here taken of the second advent is ma- 
terialistic and unphilosophical. It is, we admit it, 
unphilosophical ; that is to say, it is in conflict with 
certain unfounded, unreasonable, and untenable 
philosophical dogmas. It has, however, the vast 
advantage of being Biblical, and reasonable, and in 
accord with science and known physiological and 
biological facts, which the other views have not. 
We admit also that it is materialistic, but it only re- 
stores to matter the place of importance and of 
honor which justly belongs to it, and from which it 
has been deposed by an arrogant and false philoso- 
phy. Matter is eternal; matter is essential to the 
manifestation of life, of consciousness, and of all 
mental phenomena in man, and we bow in pro- 
found reverence in the presence of this vast and 
magnificent material universe which is the grand- 
est and mightiest expression of the majesty, and 
wisdom and power of Almighty God. 



46 



CHAPTER III. 



EXACT TIME UNKNOWN.— PROXIMITY 

OF ADVENT DISCERNIBLE TOWARD 

THE END OF THE AGE. 

Ignorance of the Savior as to the Time; of the 
Apostles; of the Writers of the Epistles; of All 
Men, Then, Now, and to the End of the Age. — 
Proximity Known by the Exhaustive Fulfill- 
men of Prophecy and by the Signs. 

It seems quite evident from the statements and 
teachings of our Lord, Himself, that the time of 
His return will never be definitely known before 
it occurs. In face of these statements and this 
teaching, the attempt to definitely fix, and to pro- 
claim, even approximately, the day of the second 
advent is folly, and a serious mistake, where it is 
not presumption, and an irreverent invasion of the 
prerogatives of God. 

"It is not for you/' said Jesus to his disciples, 
after His resurrection, "to know the times or the 
seasons which the Father hath put in His own 
power;" note the words, "hath put in His own 
power/' not in the power of another generation: 
a generation living at the time the events are about 
to transpire, as some have conceived, but, in His 

47 



own power. And this accords with what He had 
previously said with regard to the utter exclusive- 
ness and inviolability of this secret of the Almighty, 
viz.: "but of that day and that hour knoweth no 
man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, 
neither the Son, but the Father/' or as Mathew has 
it, but my Father only. It is called the day of the 
Lord; the day of God; the great and terrible day 
of the Lord; the great and dreadful day of the 
Lord, etc., and it is so called, most likely, because 
God has chosen to hold the time of its occurrence 
an impenetrable secret a day known only to him- 
self. 

Let us examine some of these statements of our 
Lord and his teachings wdth reference to this event, 
and observe the evidence which they contain of 
the absolute secrecy of the time of its occurrence, 
and of the universal ignorance of men, both at the 
time these utterances were made as well as in all 
subsequent time, prior to the event, with reference 
to the time of its occurrence. 

Take first those which indicate the ignorance — 
we say it with profound reverence — of our Lord 
Himself, on this point, as acknowledged by Him- 
self in the quotation just given. For example, His 
remark to Peter, recorded in John 21:22, "if I will 
that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" It 
is simply incredible that if our Savior had known 
the event to which he referred, to be 1900 or 2000 
years subsequent to the time of His addressing 
Peter, He would have used any such expression, 



48 



for He well knew that John would not and could 
not live for 2000 years. 

Again, in all those warnings and exhortations 
to His disciples to watch for His coming,— exhor- 
tations made to the disciples personally, and no 
doubt intended for them personally,— His expecta- 
tion of an early return, a return within their life 
time is abundantly evident. For example, Mark 
I3--33, "take ye heed, watch and pray for ye know 
not when the time is," and verse 35, "watch ye 
therefore, for ye know not when the master of the 
house cometh, at even, at midnight, or at the cock- 
crowing, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly 
he find you sleeping; and what I say unto you I 
say unto all, watch." 

The thought certainly is fraught with infinite 
comfort that the Lord told us of His ignorance of 
the time of His coming. For, if He had not, how 
would it have been possible to sustain our faith 
in the sayings of Jesus, and what confidence could 
Ave have in the truth of Scripture, generally, in view 
of the conspicuous fact that He admonished men 
whose lives were bounded, at most, by a period of 
50 or 60 years from the time He spoke, to watch for 
and to expect an event, which, after a lapse of over 
eighteen centuries and a half is still in the future. 
But, blessed be the Lord, it only confirms His 
truthfulness, and the reliability of His word, for 
He confessed His ignorance of the time, and in this 
respect claimed no advantage over other men, nor 
the angels in Heaven, and the facts as they con- 



40 



front us prove His statement with regard to His 
ignorance of the time, true. 

We can not, at this point, resist the inclination 
to refer to an utterance of our Lord furnished us in 
Mathew's gospel (chap. 10:23) which seems at first 
sight, to supply additional and stronger evidence 
of the ignorance of our Lord Himself, with refer- 
ence to the time of His second coming, but the 
form of expression is so strong that we dare not 
use it in this way: It proves too much. It is a 
solemn asseveration, akin to an oath, — a form which 
the Savior would never have used in declaring any- 
thing, if He had not had positive knowledge and 
assurance of the certainty and truth of His state- 
ment. 

The passage with its connections is this: The 
Lord called unto Him His twelve disciples or apos- 
tles and gave them power over unclean spirits, and 
to heal disease, and sent them out to preach the 
gospel of "the kingdom," commanding them not to 
go into the way of the Gentiles, nor unto any of the 
cities of the Samaritans, but to go rather to the 
lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then, after some 
other instructions, He adds, in the 23d verse, the 
solemn words referred to, viz: "For verily I say 
unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of 
Israel till the Son of Man be come/' 

The dust of eighteen tedious centuries has been 
accumulating over the graves of the apostles to 
whom these words were uttered. The cities of 
Israel have, for the most part, crumbled into ruin, 



50 



and, in the larger proportion of cases, perhaps, not 
a trace of them is left, but the Son of Man has not 
come. The human race is still wearily waiting for 
the ''Great Deliverer," "the whole creation still 
groaneth and travaileth in pain." Was the Savior 
when He uttered this solemn asseveration, not only 
ignorant of the time of His second coming, and 
cherishing mistaken views with regard to it, but 
also presumptuous, in making this solemn and 
positive statement concerning something of which 
He was ignorant. Or, did He mean to speak of 
something else than His second coming, properly 
so called, or is His second coming something other 
and different from what we regard it, or, is the 
solution of this problem to be found in the proba- 
bility that He never uttered the words attributed 
to Him in the gospel of Mathew? We prefer the 
latter view. It is a fact, at all events, that this sen- 
tence and utterance is not found in the Vatican 
MS., and though found in many other important 
MSS., and approved by Griesbach, and by him in- 
serted in his text, yet its absence from this one, 
taken into consideration together with its obvious 
conflict with fact, affords some ground for reject- 
ing it. 

However, an examination of the marginal refer- 
ences of this passage will reveal the light in which 
it is ordinarily understood. It is supposed that 
Jesus here refers to the transfiguration which took 
place some short time after this, and not to His sec- 
ond coming, properly so called, and the justifica- 

51 



tion for this use of the passage is found in the fact 
that Jesus, six days before the transfiguration, had 
said to His disciples (Math. 16:28 and 17:13): 
"Verily I say unto you, there be some standing 
here which shall not taste of death till they see the 
Son of Man coming in His kingdom," and is 
strengthened by the allusion of Peter'to this same 
event as in some way an evidence or foretoken of 
the second coming, and future power and glory of 
the Savior (2d Peter 1: 16, 17, 18). 

Another passage of the same kind, but exceed- 
ingly more difficult, occurs in Math. 24:34, and 
the corresponding passages in Mark and Luke 
(Mark 13:30, and Luke 21:32). In this passage 
the language of Christ is stronger, more positive 
and emphatic, and more in the nature of an oath 
than the previous one. It is, as we have in- 
timated, found in three of the four gospels, — ■ 
Mathew, Mark and Luke, — and so far as we 
know, appears in all MSS., and there is there- 
fore, no ground upon which to question its 
authenticity. It occurs in the prophetic discourse 
of Christ, referring to the events and signs which 
are to precede His coming and the end of the age, 
and reads as follows: "Verily I say unto you, this 
generation will not pass till all these things be ful- 
filled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My 
words shall not pass away." 

Now ,assuming the second coming of Christ to 
be literal and personal, as the Scriptures most ob- 
viously teach, and as we have in these pages, with 



52 



scarcely an effort, proved it to be, this strong dec- 
laration of Jesus comes into violent collision, ap- 
parently, with the obvious fact that Jesus has not 
yet appeared, while the generation to whom He 
spoke, taking, of course, the word genea or 
generation in its ordinary sense, has perished 
from the earth, and has mingled with its dust for 
nearly 1900 years. 

Dare we take this statement of the Savior as 
another instance of His ignorance and misconcep- 
tion of the time of His coming and kingdom? Im- 
possible; the language, besides being intensely 
positive, is prophetic, and some other understand- 
ing of the word genea will have to be allowed 
which will reconcile these solemn words w r ith the 
facts of history. That the Savior was ignorant of 
the time of His coming, He Himself declared. 
That He entertained misconceptions with regard 
to the time, and that He expected it to come dur- 
ing the lives of at least some of the disciples, then 
present with Him, and thus literally during that 
genea or generation is abundantly evident, and 
has been demonstrated in this chapter, but, in this 
instance, His language is so intensely positive that 
He must have known the absolute truth of what 
He said. 

While we believe in the theory of progressive 
revelation, and of the progressive interpretation of 
Prophecy as ably and convincingly set forth by Mr. 
Grattan Guinness in his work entitled "The Ap- 
proaching End of the Age" (which we sincerely 



53 



wish everyone would read), and while we believe, 
also, as there suggested, that Prophecy is ordinar- 
ily written in such a way as to inspire a present 
hope, while it demands a future fulfillment, and 
sometimes even a future interpretation, yet, a dis- 
tinction must be sharply drawn between Prophecy 
written in obscure symbols, and positive and plain 
statements, such as the one under consideration, 
and all others made by Christ, though less positive 
than this one, to which reference has been made in 
this chapter. We can not admit, nor do we inti- 
mate, that Mr. Guinness teaches, that Christ ut- 
tered statements or words with the deliberate in- 
tention of misleading those to whom He spoke, or 
of begetting in them a false hope, even with so be- 
nevolent a motive or purpose as that of inspiring 
courage during a long period of delayed fulfillment. 
With regard, therefore, not to this special utterance 
of Christ, which is to be considered as something 
different, but to the other sayings above alluded to, 
as, for instance, His exhortation to His disciples, 
"Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour 
as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh," and 
others of the same import, we must chose, in at- 
tempting to understand or explain them, between 
two alternatives, viz: either the ignorance and mis- 
conception of Jesus upon the subject, or His delib- 
erate purpose to mislead. This is the question we 
have to face, and it is. useless to attempt to. evade 
it. To the former explanation we have the warrant 
which His own confession of ignorance affords. 



5± 



There seems little less than blasphemy in the lat- 
ter. What, then, did Jesus mean by the words, 
"this generation/' in the passage referred to? This 
question has been prolific of controversy, and has 
had various attempted explanations. Among the 
section of biblical expositors and exegetes devoted 
to a figurative use of Scripture language, there is a 
class who regard all this discourse of Christ to His 
disciples, in which these words are found, as an al- 
legorical or figurative representation of the calami- 
ties which were to befall the Jews in the seige of 
Jerusalem by the Roman army under Titus, and 
who interpret Christ's second coming to mean 
simply those calamities, and the overthrow of the 
government and polity of the Jewish people. It 
seems almost incredible that anyone could possibly 
satisfy his intelligence and reason by such an inter- 
pretation of Christ's words; incredible, at least, 
that he should have given more than an exceed- 
ingly superficial or cursory glance at the subject of 
the second advent. This class, however, enjoy the 
advantage over those who hold the view of a literal 
and personal advent, in that they have an exceed- 
ingly easy and ready explanation of this difficult 
passage. If, indeed, all that Christ meant by the 
recital of events and signs to precede His coming, 
was to forewarn them of the impending destruction 
of Jerusalem, and if all that is meant by His sec- 
ond coming is that destruction, and the oblitera- 
tion of the polity of the Jewish people, then, of 
course, the words of Jesus are plain and at once in- 



55 



telligible. The generation to which He spoke did 
not pass till all these things were accomplished. 
But the incongruity of such a view is so flagrant 
as to make any attempt to discuss it seem ridicu- 
lous. That, certainly, need not be done here. The 
first chapter of this volume is more than a sufficient 
refutation. 

Again, there is a vary large class who, prompted 
by the general desire to overcome the difficulty 
which this passage involves, take the view that 
this discourse is a double prophecy, — a prophecy of 
events near at hand and well within the life time 
of the generation existing at the time the prophecy 
was delivered, and at the same time a prophecy of 
remoter events to be developed in the distant 
future. In plain words, they regard it as as at once 
a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and the 
overthrow of the Jewish government and nation, 
on the one hand, and on the other, a prophecy of 
the end of the world and the coming judgment. 
But this confusion of things in no way related to 
each other, and the theory in general of double 
prophecies, or prophecies of double import or ap- 
plication, does not attract us. Such theories seem 
to us unwarranted and altogether fanciful. We can 
not imagine that in a discourse uttered in response 
to a simple and earnest request on the part of His 
disciples for enlightenment in regard to certain 
questions of great interest to them,— a discourse 
ostensibly intended to enlighten them as to those 
questions, Jesus would have mixed things up to- 

56 



gcthcr in such hopeless confusion, — in such a per- 
plexing and unintelligible manner, that they could 
not possibly have understood Him, and that only 
the ingenuity of the generations living eighteen 
centuries thereafter would have been able to un- 
ravel. 

Among those who believe in a literal and per- 
sonal return of Christ, and who therefore seek to 
reconcile this apparently conflicting prediction with 
the facts of history, are those who claim that he 
genea or this generation refers, not to the gen- 
eration in whose time He spoke, but to the genera- 
tion who should be witnesses of the last signs 
spoken of in that remarkable discourse, and they 
insist that the phrase in the original Greek permits 
of this construction. So that, practically, to give 
the proper sense of the passage, instead of reading 
this generation, we should read that genera- 
tion shall not pass. But there is no cogency in 
this view, — nothing, it seems to us, to support an 
argument. If that generation was intended, then 
why not have said so? There is no lack of facility 
in either the Syriac or Greek languages. Besides, 
even should it be admitted that the "all these 
things" which were to be fulfilled before the pass- 
ing of the generation spoken of, referred to the last 
or closing signs enumerated in the discourse, — an 
admission which, while there is absolutely no 
ground for it, is indispensable to the validity of this 
argument, — then, to say that the generation which 
was to witness them would not pass before they 

57 



were fulfilled, is simply equivalent to saying that the 
generation whose it was to see them would not 
pass till it had seen them, — a statement as inane 
as the fact which is stated is obvious, and which is 
altogether unworthy of Christ. 

What the solution of this knotty question may 
be, it is difficult to say. . If, however, it is permis- 
sible to use, even in an accommodated sense, the 
Greek word genea, in which the whole difficulty 
resides, to signify the Jewish people or race, in 
whose midst Christ was, then, not only will a very 
satisfactory solution of the difficulty be found, but 
this very sentence will appear to contain one of the 
most striking prophecies or predictions in the 
whole Bible, one which, so far, has had a most mar- 
vellous fulfillment, and one which, in view of the 
circumstances surrounding the Jewish people for 
well nigh two millenaries, required a protracted 
miracle in order to its fulfillment. Over eighteen 
centuries have passed since Jerusalem was be- 
sei°*ed and destroved bv the armies of Rome. The 
temple, its worship and service, came to an end in 
that fateful seige. The Jewish national polity has 
long ago perished from the earth. Nearly fifty gen- 
erations of men have passed away. The Jews for 
long centuries have been expatriated, are scattered 
among the peoples, and have been natives and deni- 
zens of every nation on the earth. The dismal cata- 
logue of events predicted by Christ in that memora- 
ble discourse have been slowly but steadily passing 
into history through all these tedious years, and 

58 



are well nigh all accomplished, but the genera- 
tion or r race of the Jews has not passed. They are 
with us still. 

This meaning, the Greek word Genea cer- 
tainly has, as attested by scholars of prominence 
and of acknowledged ability, and the word is so 
used in many places in Scripture. The exposition 
or explanation above given, therefore, of this ob- 
scure passage, is the most satisfactory, and has 
been adopted by many scholars from the earliest 
times to the present, as the true meaning. Asso- 
ciated with this view, might be mentioned here the 
names of Jerome, Dorner, Stier, Nash, Alford, and 
Wordsworth. Jerome, however, is undecided as to 
whether the word genea in this connection refers 
to the human race or the Jewish race; — u aut omne 
genus hominum signijicat, aid specialiter JvAaeorum." 

Alford, in a note which is given in Lange's 
Commentary-Schaffe's (Math. 24:34), says: "As 
this (y] yevea ai)Tr ( ) is one of the points on which 
the rationalizing interpreters (De Witte, &c), lay 
most stress to show that the prophecy has failed, it 
may be well to show that genea has, in Hellenis- 
tic Greek, the meaning of a race or family of peo- 
ple. See Jer. viii., 3 in the Lxx; compare Ch. xxiii., 
36, with verse 25, kyovzixrarz but this generation 
did not slay Zacharias, — so that the whole people 
are addressed: see also Luke xvii. 25; Math. xvii. 
17; Luke xvi. 6, where genea is predicated both 
of the vlo\ too atwvos tootou and the olo\ too 
<pt»r6$ Acts xi. 40; Phil. xi. 15. In all these places 

59 



genea is equal to genos, or nearly so; having, 
it is true, a more pregnant meaning, implying that 
the character of one generation stamps itself upon 
the race, as here in this verse also. This meaning 
of genea is fully conceded by Dorner (from 
whom he makes a long quotation). * * * The 
continued use of napzpyoixai in verses 34, 35, 
should have saved the commentators from the 
blunder of imagining that the then living genera- 
tion was meant, seeing that the prophecy is, by the 
next verse, carried on to the end of all things; and 
that, as a matter of fact, the apostolic and early 
Church did continue to expect the Lord Jesus after 
that generation had passed away." 

We are aware that what we have said with refer- 
ence to the Savior's ignorance and misconception 
as to the time of His second coming, will be indig- 
nantly rejected, and be regarded, perhaps, as al- 
most blasphemous by a majority of those, at least, 
who hold trinitarian views, but, it must be quite 
evident to the logical mind, whether devoted to 
trinitarianism or not, that if the Savior's knowledge 
as to the time of His second advent was limited to 
any extent whatever, as acknowledged by Him- 
self, — if "that day and that hour" which was known 
to the Father, w 7 as, on His own confession, abso- 
lutely unknown to Him, then there is at least a 
possibility of a more extensive lack of knowledge 
on the subject, even to the extent of complete ig- 
norance, and from many of His sayings this is quite 
probably so. Indeed, there are not wanting, in the 



60 



life and utterances of Christ, other evidences of His 
ignorance of those things which pertained to His 
own experience in the work of redemption. His 
memorable prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, 
"Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from 
Me," is exceedingly suggestive of it. 

Next, and very briefly, let us consider the evi- 
dence which the gospels afford of the ignorance of 
the apostles and first disciples of our Lord with 
reference to the time of the Second Advent. The 
evidence is so abundant and so conspicuous that it 
is scarcely necessary to refer to it at all, or to dis- 
cuss the question at any length. 

The first evidence of this fact which suggests 
itself is contained in the repeated warnings given 
by Christ to them, to "watch" and "to be ready." 
accompanied frequently, if not uniformly, by the 
statement "for ye know not the time." For exam- 
ple, in the passage quoted a few moments ago from 
Math. xxiv. 44, "Therefore, be ye also ready, for 
in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man 
cometh." Also Mark xiii. 33, "Take ye, heed, 
watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is," 
and many similar passages. And, that this ignor- 
ance of the disciples on this point continued even 
after the Savior's death and resurrection, witness 
the words of Jesus quoted in the opening of this 
chapter, and spoken by Him after He arose from 
the dead: "It is not for you to know the times and 
the seasons." Finally, if the Savior, Himself, knew 



61 



nothing of the lime of His coming, how could 
they know? 

The Epistles also abound with evidence of the 
ignorance and misconception of those who wrote 
them, with reference to the time of this event. They 
all expected it to occur, in all likelihood, within their 
life time, Peter excepted, whose death before its 
occurrence had been foretold him by the Savior, 
but he also expected it to take place within the life 
time of his fellow disciples. Paul, Peter, James, 
John and Jude, — all of them, without exception, 
were under this impression. James, in the last 
chapter of his letter, exhorts and encourages the 
scattered brethren belonging to the twelve tribes, 
who had suffered fraud and injustice from their 
wealthy employers, to "be patient unto the coming 
of the Lord." "Be ye also patient, stablish your 
hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh; 
behold, the judge standeth before the door/' 

Jude (4th verse) refers to certain vicious men 
crept in unawares, into the Church, or circle of be- 
lievers, and measuring them up in the 18th verse, 
to the description which Peter gives of certain feat- 
ures of society, or of the Church, which were to 
characterize the last days of the dispensation, 
comes to the conclusion that he is living in the 
last days, or time, and points his brethren to these 
features, then existing, as proofs. 

John also in his first letter, 2d chapter, 18th 
verse, reasons it out in about the same way. His 
words are, "Little children, it is the last time, and 

62 



as ve have heard that Antichrist shall come, even 
now are there many Antichrists ; whereby we know 
that it is the last time." 

Peter, in his second letter to his converts, scat- 
tered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, &c, 
exhorts them to diligence and watchfulness, — 
"looking for and hastening unto the coming of the 
day of God." And again, "Wherefore, beloved, 
seeing that ye look for these things, be diligent, 
that ye may be found of Him in peace, without 
spot and blameless." He knew that he, himself, 
would not live to see the day; for the Lord had 
foretold him of his death, which He said would oc- 
cur prior to the event, and in these ardent and ten- 
der admonitions to his converts, we can almost per- 
ceive a tone of sadness and disappointment that 
this would not be his privilege. 

Paul's letters, also, clearly and abundantly 
show 7 his hope and expectation of living till the 
Lord's return, and he never surrenders them till 
imprisoned, enchained, and waiting for the heads- 
man's axe in a Roman jail, all hope of continued 
life has been extinguished. 

We are quite aware of the opinion which ob- 
tains, very generally, that while Paul's first letter 
to the Thessalonians, which was one of his earlier 
apostolic letters, does indeed show this expectation ; 
his second letter to the same Church shows a 
deeper knowledge of divine things, and his conse- 
quent abandonment of this expectation, especially 
as in chapter 2d of the letter he admonishes - the 

63 



Church against the misconception which seems 
there to have begun to prevail, that "the day of 
Christ was at hand," — the chapter which predicts 
the "falling away' 'and the revelation of "the Man 
of Sin." But, there is no evidence here or else- 
where that he knew definitely the nature or extent 
of this apostasy, or the time required for its devel- 
opment. He did know that "the mystery of in- 
iquity" was already at work, and he also knew what 
was holding it in check, temporarily, but he might 
have expected, — and some utterances made by him 
in letters written several years afterwards, make it 
quite probable that he did expect — the removal of 
this letting power, the development of the apos- 
tacy and of the Man of Sin, as well as the re- 
turn of Christ, within his own life time. 

These subsequent utterances of the apostle are, 
first, the commendation which he expresses (ist 
Cor. 1:10) to the Corinthian Church, where he 
praises them, not only for their spiritual attain- 
ments, but because they were "waiting for the 
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." This letter was 
written from three to five years after the letter to 
the Thessalonians containing the reference to "the 
Man of Sin" and the "falling away." Another is 
found in his letter to Titus (Chap. 2:11 to 13), 
written A. D. 65, and thus from nine to eleven 
years after the letter to the Thessalonians, and 
within a year or two of his martyrdom. He writes, 
"The grace of God which bringeth salvation hath 
appeared unto all men, teaching us that denying 



64 



ungodliness and wordly lusts, we should live so- 
berly, righteously, and Godly, in this present world; 
looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appear- 
ing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ" 

Taking the passage in 2d Thess. as a prophecy 
of the great apostle, made at that time to the Thes- 
salonian Church, there is no warrant for suppos- 
ing that he fully understood its import; knew all 
the facts connected with it, or the time required for 
its fulfillment, any more than did other prophets, 
with reference to whom Peter (1st Pet. 1:10, 11) 
says "of which salvation the prophets have in- 
quired and searched diligently, who prophesied of 
the grace that should come unto you; searching 
what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ 
which was in them did signify, when it testified be- 
forehand the suffering of Christ, and the glory that 
should follow." 

But, it is plainly no prophecy made at this time 
to the Thessalonian Church, since the apostle 
speaks of the matter as something of which he had 
spoken to them before, and with which they were 
familiar, as indicated by the words, "and now ye 
know what withholdeth that he might be revealed 
in his time/' In the original Greek, instead of a 
falling away it is the falling away (he apostasia) 
— a specific apostasy, the knowledge of which was 
already in the possession of the Churches, perhaps 
communicated to them through the apostles, or 
perhaps a part of the revelations made to Paul him- 
self, when he was "caught up to the third heaven," 



65 



or may be, expressly revealed to the Church at 
some previous time by the Spirit. (See ist John 
4:1, &c.) 

But, what we have been attempting to show, 
primarily, is, not that Paul, through all his minis- 
try w r as uniform in his belief or opinion, that 
the advent would probably occur before he 
died, but, that in common with the rest of the 
writers of the epistles, he was ignorant as to the 
time of the advent, and, if those who contend that 
he believed one thing in the earlier part of his 
ministry, and receded from that view as he ap- 
proached the end of his career, are right, then, it 
is equally clear, even on this theory, that he knew 
nothing, positively, of the time of the event. 

Permit, also, the suggestion, right here, that 
whatever Paul's belief may or may not have been 
with reference to the time of the advent, — whether 
near or remote from the time in which he lived, 
the event itself was not only firmly believed by him 
to the end of his life, but to the end of his life was 
considered by him to be a thing demanding the 
most cherished, earnest, and constant hope and ex- 
pectation of every Christian. 

Whatever contention there may be as to Paul's 
authorship of some of the letters ascribed to him; 
of their dates and of the places where they were 
written, there can be no reasonable doubt that he 
wrote the letter to Timothy, and that it was writ- 
ten at the close of his life, in the very shadow of 
the executioner's block, as it contains within itself 



66 



evidence of this, and there, right in the closing- 
chapter, he exclaims, "Henceforth there is laid up 
for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, 
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and 
not to me only, but unto all them also that love his 
appearing." 

And now, let us consider briefly the question of 
the ignorance of mankind, in general, with refer- 
ence to the time of the second advent, right up to 
the end of the age. One passage from Scripture 
may be sufficient, though there are many which 
reveal it. We select the most emphatic, compre- 
hensive, and unequivocal: "For as a snare shall 
it come upon all these that dwell on the face of 
the whole earth" (Luke 21:35). That includes 
everybody, saint and sinner alike, but there will be 
this difference, however, between the saint and the 
sinner: The saint, if he be not one of the "foolish 
virgins," will have his lamp trimmed and his light 
burning; oil in his vessel, and be patiently waiting 
for his Lord, and so, "that day will not overtake 
him as a thief in the night;" whereas, the sinner will 
utterly ignore the event, — it will have no place in 
his thought or faith, — and so, he will be thus over- 
taken. Instead of expecting and waiting and 
watching, he will be saying, "peace and safety." 
No, the exact time of the Lord's return is one of 
the secrets of the Almighty, and "the secret things 
belong unto the Lord, our God, but those things 
which are revealed belong unto us and to our chil- 
dren forever." 



67 



But, if the exact time of the Second Advent is 
wrapped in secrecy, and mystery, and sacredly re- 
served within the impenetrable councils of the Al- 
mighty, its approach and proximity are to be dis- 
cernible to the believers living during the period 
immediately preceding its occurrence, — the period 
spoken of by Daniel as "the time of the end." This 
is at once apparent, and incontrovertible, from the 
signs given by our Lord, w r hich, He said, were to 
precede the event; which He admonished His hear- 
ers to observe and heed (Luke 21:25); "and there 
shall be signs in the sun and in the moon, etc. 
* * * and when these begin to come to pass, 
then look up, and lift up your heads, for your re- 
demption draweth nigh." Again (verse 29th), 
"Behold the fig tree and all the trees, when they 
now shoot forth, ye see and know of yourselves 
that summer is night at hand, so likewise ye when 
ye see these things come to pass know ye that the 
kingdom of God is nigh at hand; — or as Mathew 
has it, "know that it is near, even at the door." 

It is still further apparent from the Prophetic 
Scriptures, especially those of Daniel and the Reve- 
lations, which, in symbolic figures foretell and de- 
scribe the event, and certainly we must accord to 
the Holy Spirit who indited those Scriptures, an 
intelligent and useful motive or purpose, and the 
purpose of Prophecy, as very clearly intimated by 
our Lord in His conversation with the two disci- 
ples on the road to Emmaus, is to instruct, at least 
those living in the times of the event prophesied, 

68 



that the time has come or is fully matured: "Oh 
fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Proph- 
ets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suf- 
fered these things and to enter into his glory? And 
beginning at Moses and all the Prophets he ex- 
pounded to them in all the Scriptures the things 
concerning Himself." 

To ignore Prophecy and to treat it with neglect, 
is to dishonor God's word, and to charge the Holy 
Spirit with folly in producing that which is without 
purpose or profit. God has declared in His word 
that He creates nothing in vain. Christ, himself, 
refers to Daniel's Prophecy, and Daniel in a vision 
which he gives us in chapter 7, verse 13, prophesies 
of the Lord's return, and of His reign upon the 
earth, in these words: "And, behold one like the 
Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven * * * 
and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and 
a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages, 
should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting 
dominion which shall not pass away, and His king- 
dom that which shall not be destroyed." 

We repeat, therefore, the prophetic Scriptures, 
from their nature and use, make it apparent that 
those living at or near the time of the Second Ad- 
vent shall be able to discern its approach and prox- 
imity, for, the event is foretold and described in 
Prophecy, and the things social, political, and re- 
ligious, leading up to it, and one of the purposes of 
Prophecy, as we have seen, is to instruct God's 
children living at the time of the events therein 

69 



predicted, that the time is either upon them or 
"nigh at hand, even at the door." 

This principle was recognized by God's believ- 
ing and faithful children at the time of the first ad- 
vent of our Lord, and by studying the prophetic 
Scriptures, and noting the social, political, and 
religious events of the times, as well as the signs, 
they knew that the "due time" was come, and there 
were many in Jerusalem besides Simeon, who were 
therefore "waiting for the consolation of Israel," 
as appears from Luke 2:38, where Anna, the aged 
Prophetess, is described as coming into the temple ; 
giving thanks unto the Lord, and speaking of the 
newly born Savior "to all them that looked for re- 
demption in Jerusalem, — that is, to them that look- 
ed and waited for the Savior, according to the dec- 
laration of Prophecy. And this reminds us that 
the writer to the Hebrews (Chap. 9:38) says: "To 
them that look for Him shall He appear the sec- 
ond time, without sin (or a sin offering) unto sal- 
vation." 

When Herod, with murderous design in his 
heart, summoned the chief priests and scribes of the 
people and demanded of them where Christ should 
be born, they promptly said, "in Bethlehem," bas- 
ing their statement on the authority of the Prophet 
Micah, who, 710 years before, speaking by the 
Spirit, had prophesied and said (Chap. v. 2): "But 
thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little 
among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee 
shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in 
Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, 
from everlasting." 

70 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE SECOND ADVENT WILL BE PREMIL- 

LENNIAL. 
Testimony of Scripture on this point. Views of 
the early Christian Church. — The literal, per- 
sonal, and premillennial view held by able men 
and scholars during every age of the Church, 
and increasingly prevalent in these times. — Or- 
igen as an exegete. — His aims and schemes. — 
Origen primarily responsible for the perversion 
of Scripture truth. 

Having in the previous chapters established the 
fact that the Second Advent will be personal and 
literal, and that its proximity may and will be dis- 
cerned in the time of the end, by the characteristic 
signs, and by the exhaustive fulfillment of the 
prophetic Scriptures which predict it, it would seem 
that the next question in natural order would be 
the question as to the imminence or otherwise of 
the event. There is, however, a preliminary ques- 
tion, viz: is the Second Advent premillennial or 
postmillennial, because, if it is postmillennial, and 
the Millennium has not yet begun, as we do not 
think any rational person will assume, then the 
second coming can not, in the nature of the case, 

71 



take place soon, and it would be idle to discuss such 
a question. 

• How, in view of the plain teaching of Christ 
and the apostles, there can be any question as to 
the fact that the Second Advent will be premillen- 
nial, is almost incomprehensible, and would be ut- 
terly so, were we not already familiar with the al- 
most universal practice, — and a practice which has 
obtained through multiplied centuries, — of manipu- 
lating and working over Scripture so as to make 
it authorize and support every theological dogma 
or doctrine, and every religious theory the human 
mind has ever conceived; and were we not also 
familiar with the almost universally prevalent no- 
tion, out of which the above mentioned practice 
has, if not sprung, at least has found its sanction, 
viz: that the Sacred Scriptures in all their parts or 
features; historical, poetical, prophetic, or didac- 
tic, have an occult meaning, — a meaning beneath 
the mere letter or surface, and which is not only 
the principal meaning; the meaning of chief signifi- 
cance, but oftentimes the only and real meaning. 
A whole chapter might be written, and profitably, 
too, illustrating and giving examples of these in- 
genious, and sometimes amusing, perversions of 
Scripture, if such sacriligious treatment of Scrip- 
ture can be spoken of as amusing. Theosophists, 
Christian-Scientists, Swedenborgians, Spiritualists, 
the various orthodox Churches, Protestant and 
Catholic alike, and the Liberals, so called, — all of 



72 



them are adepts in the art. But this is not our 
theme. 

We repeat, therefore, it would be utterly incom- 
prehensible how there can be any question as to the 
premillennial character of the Second Advent, in 
view of the plain teachings of Christ and the apos- 
tles, were it not for the existence of these notions 
and practices, and of denominational prejudices, 
which, like all prejudice, blinds the perceptions and 
paralyzes the judgment. 

Let us examine the sayings of Jesus as recorded 
in the Gospels, and see what light they throw upon 
this question. 

It is recorded by Matthew (Chaps. 23 and 24) 
that one day Jesus was teaching in the temple, and 
the w r riter gives us a report of some portiorr at least, 
of what the Savior said on that occasion. When 
He was through with His discourse, He, with His 
disciples, who were also with Him, left the temple 
for retirement and rest, no doubt, on the Mount of 
Olives, — a favorite resort of our Lord. As they 
were leaving the temple enclosure some of the dis- 
ciples called His attention to the buildings and 
especially to the stones of which they were built, 
or which were built into them, saying (as Mark 
more specifically states it in chapter 13 of his gos- 
pel) "Master, see what manner of stones, and what 
buildings are here. ,, Jesus replied (as in Mark) 
"seest thou these great buildings? there shall not 
be left one stone upon another, that shall not be 
thrown down." A little later, when they had all 

73 



crossed the Kidron valley, and were seated on 
Mount Olivet, in sight of the sacred city and tem- 
ple, James, John, Peter, and Andrew came to Him 
and asked Him privately, "when shall these things 
be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming and 
of the end of the world (or rather age)." Jesus re- 
plied by epitomizing the salient features of this age, — - 
the age common to them and to us, — and by passing 
them in panorama, so to speak, before their minds. 
He begins -by cautioning them against imposters 
and false christs who should come, and who should 
deceive many. He cautions them also against a 
too hasty conclusion, from the prevalence of "wars 
and rumors of wars," that the "end" was, therefore, 
at hand. For, said He, "nation shall rise against 
nation, etc., but, "all these things are (only) the 
beginning of (the) sorrows" that w T ere to character- 
ize this fateful age. 

Then He foretells, in a general way, what shall 
befall them, and his followers, generally, before 
these things occur (so Luke tells us). Then, tak- 
ing a comprehensive glance down through the long 
vista of years, He predicts the multiplication of false 
teachers (and how they have multiplied, indeed* 
and how they do abound?) and finally, He foretells 
the preaching of "this gospel of the kingdom in all 
the world for a witness unto all nations, and then 
shall the end come." 

He next refers to the Prophecies and warns 
them with reference to the approaching destruction 
of the city of Jerusalem by the Romans, saying, 



74 



"when, therefore, ye see the abomination of desola- 
tion spoken of by Daniel the Prophet standing in 
the holy place, flee ye to the mountains." He 
again warns them against the false christs and im- 
posters that are to develop at this time, assuring 
them that when He does really come again, it will 
be as clear to their own consciousness as the light- 
ning flash, and they would not need to be told of it. 
He then gives an account of the signs in the sun. 
moon, stars, etc., which are to herald His coming, 
and which are to be followed by the "sign of the 
Son of Man in heaven," and the gathering of the 
elect, by the angels, from the four winds of heaven, 
and He concludes with the parable of the fig tree, 
and the admonition "so likewise ye, when ye shall 
see all these things, know that it is near, even at 
the doors." 

Now, it will be observed that in all this dismal 
catalogue of events which are to characterize the 
age, there is not the slightest intimation of a Mil- 
lennium. Is it not, therefore, unreasonable and in- 
credible that, if so important a feature and one cov- 
ering so extensive a portion of the age, belonged 
to it, the Savior would have passed it over in this 
recital, in utter silence? It is completely ignored. 

It is true that, in the 14th verse He says, "a,nd 
this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all 
the world for a witness unto all nations," but it re- 
quires a marvelous stretch of imagination to get, 
out of this statement, a prophecy of a Millennium 
of righteousness upon the earth. It is equally 



75 



futile to attempt to apply it as a prophecy of the 
conversion of the world. The statement Christ 
here makes, plainly and simply is, that "the gospel 
of the Kingdom," — the Kingdom to be set up when 
he comes; the Kingdom about which he taught 
them to pray "thy Kingdom come;" — this gospel 
shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto 
all nations, and then shall the end come," the end 
of this corrupt age, and the beginning of the mil- 
lennial reign of Christ and His saints upon the 
earth, when shall be fulfilled (and not till then) 
those various promises and predictions of abound- 
ing righteousness upon the earth, scattered 
throughout the Scriptures. And, it is also to be 
observed, that this "preaching of the gospel of the 
Kingdom as a witness unto all nations" is done 
simultaneously with "the abounding of iniquity 
and the waxing cold of the love of many," (see 12th 
and 13th verses). 

Again, from the admonitions given by Christ 
to His disciples on this occasion, concerning the 
signs which were to herald His coming, as well as 
others to which we have before alluded, it is evi- 
dent that Christ not only knew nothing of the time 
of His second coming, but that He expected it to 
occur during the lives of at least some of His disci- 
ples who were then present with Him, and, if so, 
then He knew nothing of this hypothetical millen- 
nial period that had to precede His advent. 

Read, for example, Mark 13: 33, "take ye heed, 
watch and pray, for ye know not when the time 

76 



is," and verse 35, "watch ye, therefore, iox ye know 
not when the master of the house cometh, at even, 
at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the 
morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleep- 
ing, and what I say unto you, I say unto all, watch." 

How incongruous and futile, yea, how cruel 
such warnings and injunctions to His ingenuous 
and confiding disciples, who could, at best, live no 
more than 50 or 60 years beyond the time when 
such warnings were made, if He knew anything 
about this intervening period of a thousand years. 
What a mockery of their poor human frailty and 
ignorance, and what a useless and impossible in- 
junction for us also, if one thousand long, eventful 
years must yet sweep majestically by before He 
returns. 

No wonder postmillenarians take no interest in 
the second coming of Christ. What interest can 
they feel or take in an event, how glorious soever 
it may be, that is at least one thousand years in the 
future, and long, long centuries after they shall 
have mingled their dust with that of the mighty 
millions who have gone before? How absurd all 
injunctions to watchfulness; how futile all warnings 
concerning the event. 

Again, there is no intimation of this intervening 
millennial period in any of the Epistles. The 
writers of these letters have utterly ignored it. 
They tell us of the corruption of this age, and of a 
great apostacy or falling away, which should occur 
in the course of it, and before the Lord should 

77 



come. They also date the commencement of this 
apostasy, — its germination, so to speak, just then, 
at the time they wrote, and predicted its develop- 
ment and continuance, without interruption, right 
up to the end of the age, leaving no space whatever 
for a millennium of righteousness. Indeed, "the 
Mystery of Iniquity," which Paul, in his second let- 
ter to the Thessalonians (Chap. 2 : 3) said was 
already working, should continue to work; — 
though somewhat hindered by some cause, then 
existing, but which should ultimately be removed, 
— until there should be revealed a "wicked one" 
whom the Lord should "consume with the spirit of 
His mouth, and destroy with the brightness of His 
coming." No room, therefore, for a millenium. 
There can hardly be any doubt, also, about the 
identity of this "Mystery of Iniquity" with the apo- 
calyptic "Babylon" or "Mother of Harlots" whose 
period of triumph and glory belongs to the present 
age, and who should continue till the coming of the 
"Lord of Lords and King of Kings." 

Dr. G. C. Lorimer, in a sermon preached in 
Immanual Baptist Church, Chicago, some time 
ago, very pertinently remarks on this point. 
"These representations are irreconcilable with the 
expectations entertained by some disciples that the 
millennium must close prior to the second advent. 
If a thousand years of blessedness are to be enjoyed 
before that stupendous event occurs, surely the 
generation then living will be looking for it. It 
does not relieve the difficulty to say that, as this 

78 



gracious period terminates, there will be a falling 
away, and that to the people thus backslidden the 
appearing of Jesus will be unexpected, for it is in- 
conceivable that they should not be aware of the 
golden era, then passing or past, and of the mo- 
mentous sequel which it foretokens. Moreover it 
should be remembered that Jesus and His follow- 
ers speak of the gospel age, with its mixture of 
good and evil, as continuing without decisive re- 
sults up to the hour of supreme and final revela- 
tion." 

So far as the moral condition of society at the 
immediate time of the Second Advent is concerned, 
the intimations from the words and sayings of both 
Christ and the apostles are, that it will be about as 
bad, if not worse, than it has ever been. In the 
comparison drawn by our Savior between the day 
of His coming and the days of Noah and of Lot, we 
have a very strong conviction that the parallelism 
is by no means exhausted in the mere suddenness 
of the event, and in the utter surprise by which the 
w r orld will be overtaken, but that it extends to the 
moral and social conditions of the two periods, — 
to the utter worldliness and carnality, if not to the 
actual depravity, as well as to the terrific and over- 
whelming destructiveness of these ancient days of 
wrath. It certainly is not entirely without signifi- 
cance that reference is made to the fact that "they 
did eat, they drank, they married wives, they 
bought, they sold, they planted, they builded," 
since these are the most common events and activi- 

79 



ties of human life. The suggestion most certainly 
is, that as in the days of these ancient catastrophies, 
the people were utterly absorbed with worldly 
things, and immersed in the affairs of this life, 
to the complete neglect of, and unconcern for 
religious truth, and religious duty, so it will be, or 
such will be the state of mind and feeling of the 
world, in general, when the Lord returns to earth. 

Read 2d Tim. 3 : 1 to 7 inclusive about the con- 
dition of society in the perilous days of the last 
time; also 1st Tim. 4: 1, and 2d Peter 2:1, and 3: 3. 
And, as intimated in the early part of last chapter, 
this feature of the last days; of the day of the Lord, 
was so well recognized by the writers of the Epis- 
tles, that they made it the gage of the days in 
which they lived, and, in view of the prevalence of 
iniquity even in their days, erroneously concluded 
that they were living in the "last days," or as John 
called it, "the last time." Read also John's first 
letter, and Jude's. 

If the Millennium is to be in progress when 
Christ makes His return to earth, what congruity 
is there in the warnings and admonitions which He 
uttered to His disciples, in immediate connection 
with this event? warnings about the presence and 
prevalence of false christs and false prophets, 
"showing great signs and wonders, so that, if it 
w 7 ere possible, the very elect would be deceived;" 
warnings to "take heed lest at any time their hearts 
should be overcharged with surfeiting and drunk- 
enness, and cares of this life, and so that day should 

80 



come upon them unawares," if such things were 
not to characterize the time of the Second Advent, 
rather than the purity, benignity, and peace, and 
the moral glory, generally, of the millennial period. 
What congruity in such a view is there, with the 
statement of Christ that to some, at least, "that day 
should come upon them as a thief in the night,'* 
and that when they should be saying "peace and 
safety;" then sudden destruction shall come upon 
them, as travail upon a woman, and they shall not 
escape," and with the further statement that "as a 
snare will it come upon all these that dwell on the 
face of the whole earth." 

In the parable of the unjust judge, recorded by 
Luke (Chap. 18) there is a very significant sug- 
gestion that when the Lord returns again, all faith 
in God, or at least in His control and government 
of the world and of men, will have nearly, if not 
quite perished from the earth. What else can be 
the ominous meaning of His question "neverthe- 
less, when the Son of Man cometh shall He find 
faith on the earth?" No, the Millennium will not 
be in progress when Christ returns, neither will it 
occupy any portion of this age. 

After all, do postmillenarians really think it 
credible that Christ will remain away from the 
world and from His people all through the millen- 
nial period with all its moral beauty and grandure, 
and make his return to earth only at its close, and 
after "the devil shall have been loosed again from 
prison, and goes out to deceive the nations," and 

81 



this earth, outside of the '-camp of the saints, tihd 
the .-beloved-city," shall, for a "short time," at least; 
be turned into a pandemonium? : ' 

But finally, in the entire Scriptures there is- but 
one chapter, — one only,— that speaks specifically of 
a millennium, and that is the 20th of Revelations. 
There is not the slightest mention of it anywhere else. 
Now, whatever, if anything, is said in that chapter 
bearing upon the question of the time of the Mil- 
lennium with relation to the Second Advent, ought 
to be conclusive in this discussion. Fortunately 
there is something there said which determines, 
very clearly, this matter. 

The chapter opens by describing how an Angel 
came down from Heaven with the key of the "bot- 
tomlessipit, and a chain in his hand," who seizes the 
devil, casts him into the pit, and confines him there 
for a thousand years. Then, thrones are seen, "and 
the souls of those w T ho were beheaded for the wit* 
ness of Jesus, and for the word of God * * * 
and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand 
years;" viz.: the thousand years during which the 
devil was bound. Now note the next verse (5th), 
"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the 
thousand years were finished. . This is the first res- 
urrection." 

Here, it will be clearly seen that the Millenium 
is put between the first and the second resurrection. 
In other words, it is clearly indicated to be after the 
first resurrection and before the second. The state- 
ment is that "the souls of those who were beheaded 

82. 



(and therefore were, immediately preceding this 
event, dead) lived/' — that is to say, lived again, or 
were resurrected, and then, after their resurrection, 
"reigned with Christ a thousand years." "But the 
rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand 
years were finished." u This" (the living again of 
the souls of those who were beheaded) "is the first 
resurrection. " The "rest oi the dead" lived not 
again till the Millennium was passed and over. 
Evidently, therefore, the Millennium comes after 
the first resurrection. 

Now, when does the first resurrection occur 
with relation to Christ's coming? Does it occur 
before His coming or after He has come? In ist 
Thess. 4: 16, we read "For the Lord Himself will 
descend from Heaven with a shout, with the 
voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; 
and the dead in Christ shall rise first." Here then 
is the first resurrection, and it is evident that it oc- 
curs after the coming of Christ. Indeed, the object 
and purpose of his coming, is, to raise the sainted 
dead, "the dead in Christ," and to then establish 
His millennial Kingdom, in righteousness and 
peace upon the earth, where the resurrected saints 
will reign with Him, as stated in this chapter of the 
Revelations which we are considering, for a thous- 
and years, or during the Millennium. The Mil- 
lennium is, therefore, after His second advent, and 
not before, and His coming is thus,premillennial. 

This 20th chapter of Revelations, alone, where, 
and where only, in the whole of the Bible, the fact. 



83- 



of a millennium is specifically recorded and re- 
vealed ,settles this question clearly and conclusively 
in favor of the premillenarian view; contains within 
itself all the evidence needed, and in fact, practically 
declares the coming of Christ to be premillennial. 

The view taken in this volume- with reference 
to the nature and manner of the Second Advent, 
and the time when it is due, with reference to the 
millennial period, was the view held by the earliest 
Fathers of the Church, and by primitive Christians 
in post-apostolic times. It has been held by many 
of the most eminent, learned, and pious men among 
both the clergy and laity, ever since these times, 
and it is now cherished and proclaimed by some 
of the ablest and foremost men in the world, — 
philologists, theologians, evangelists, linguists, and 
scholars of every class, and by thousands of the 
brightest, most intelligent, and thoughtful men and 
women on the ordinary social plane. 

The Rev. Edward White, one of the most use- 
ful, influential, and respected Congregational min- 
isters in Europe, in a discourse delivered by him on 
the 19th of March, 1882, at the anniversary of his 
ministry in St. Paul's Chapel, says, "Again, the be- 
lief in the advent of Christ at the end of "the times 
of the Gentiles," to destroy antichrist, and to estab- 
lish the kingdom of God on the earth for a thous- 
and years, is now widely spread among Christian 
people, excepting the Independents and Baptists, 
who, almost to a man, repudiate it, although nearly 
all their forefathers held it in the ages of Puritan- 

84 



ism. If you are one of the great company of those 
who hold this "blessed hope" and love "the appear- 
ing of the Lord," as an Apostolic Christian ought 
to do, does the general contempt of the dissenting 
ministers of England for "premillennial views" in 
the least degree shake your faith in that which 
Bishop Lightfoot demonstrates to have been the 
primitive faith of Christendom, and which such 
men as Auberlin, Steir, Alford, and a thousand 
others, hold to be the plain doctrine, not only of St. 
Paul in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, 
but everywhere else the doctrine of the Old and 
New Testaments?" 

Barnabas, Papias (a contemporary of St. John, 
the evangelist and revelator), Polycarp (the disci- 
ple of St. John), Irenaeus (the disciple of Polycarp, 
and who lived and wrote scarcely sixty years after 
the death of St. John, and who was linked to him 
in the direct channel of apostolic teaching by Poly- 
carp), Hyppolitus (the disciple of Irenaeus), Jus- 
tin Martyr, Tertullius, the Latin fathers, generally, 
who, fortunately, did not come within the circle of 
Greek influence, viz. : Commodius, Victorinus, Pet- 
tavensis, Lactantius, Sulpicius Severus, — all held 
and taught the views contended for in this volume. 
The Encly. Brit. Vol. 16, page 317, speaking par- 
ticularly of the Latin fathers, just named, says, 
"all were pronounced millenarians, holding by the 
very details of the primitive Christian expectations. 
They expected that after the first resurrection 



85 



• Christ would reign with the saints in the-, flesh forya 
thousand years." 

The leaven of pagan philosophy, however, in its 
Grecian modification, at a time when Grecian cul- 
ture and influence were dominating the intellectual 
world, was being constantly and zealously insinu- 
ated into the teachings of the early Christian 
Church, so that even in apostolic times the propa- 
gators of the Christian faith had to be ever on the 
alert, and ever on the defensive in resisting and re- 
pressing this influence. St. Paul warns the Colos- 
sians (Chap. 2 : 8), "Beware lest any man spoil you 
through philosophy and vain deceit, etc.," and his 
letter to Timothy contains frequent similar exhorta- 
tions, notably, 1st Tim. 6: 20. 

The early Christian Fathers, also, — the imme- 
diate successors of the Apostles, were kept busy 
combatting the multiform heresies which the active, 
subtle, and prolific philosophies of the time engen- 
dered, Their principal writings are devoted to this 
work. The most important and valuable work of 
Irenaeus is his "Refutation and Subversion of 
Knowledge Falsely So-called/' or, as it is com- 
monly known, "Against Heresies." 

Of all persons primarily responsible for the per- 
version and corruption of Christian doctrine, Ori- 
gen stands at the head. Able, learned, zealous, in- 
defatigable and irrepressible, his influence out- 
weighed the combined influence and efforts of all 
others in the Christian Church at that time, and un- 
fortunately, that influence was unfavorable to the 



86 



purity of Christian doctrine. Able men, learned 
in the Oriental and Greek philosophies, had, no 
doubt, many a time clashed swords, figuratively 
speaking, with the early defenders and promoters 
of the Christian faith, but those assaults were from 
without the Church. Origen, on the contrary, was 
within the Church, the patron, for a time at least, 
of Demetrius, Bishop of Alexandria, and was in 
charge of the catechetical school there, and had 
the advantage over all other perverters and de- 
stroyers of Christian truth, in that he was within 
the citidel of Christianity, and equipped as no other 
man of his time was, for such a work. 

There is no design here, to insinuate that Origen 
was the deliberate and intentional enemy of Chris- 
tianity or of Christian truth, but, like many another 
able and ambitious man, he had a favorite theory, 
and a favorite scheme, which dominated his mind 
and will, and which easily betrayed him into the 
perversion of truth. This scheme was the concil- 
iation of philosophy and religion, and it is too 
obvious to require argument, that any serious effort 
to reconcile, not so much philosophy with religion, 
as religion with philosophy,— that is to say, the at- 
tempt to adjust the teachings of Christ and the 
Apostles, and the Word of God, in general, to the 
vain imaginings and speculations of men, must re- 
sult in the compromise and perversion, more or 
less, of religious truth. 

As a natural product of this impossible effort, 
and this monstrous scheme, came the figurative or 



-87 



allegorical interpretation of Christian truth,- 
system of interpretation, at once the most un- 
scientific, and the most subversive and destructive 
of all truth that could ever have been imagined; a 
system which has practically ''rendered the Word 
of God of none effect," and, as before said, made it 
possible to use the Scriptures as the text book. of 
every, and all the conflicting religious theories in 
the world, and justified the sceptic's sneering 
charge, that "you can prove anything and every- 
thing you have a mind to from the Scriptures/' 
And Origen, though not the founder of this system, 
—a system which was in use for centuries before, 
among Jewish writers and teachers, yet was, if not 
the very first to use it, at least the first to establish 
its use in the Christian Church. 

A few quotations from competent authorities 
will make this apparent. In McClintock & 
Strong's Bib. Theo. and Eccl. Cyc, Vol. 7, page 
428, we read, under the head of "Origen" — "Ori- 
gen is called the father of Biblical criticism and 
exegesis of the Church. * He is univer- 

sally regarded as one of the most laborious and 
learned scholars that has appeared in Christendom, 
and although his orthodoxy has, on some impor- 
tant points, been called in question, his fame and 
influence will endure to the end of time." Now let 
us see what was his special method of treating 
Scripture, and what were his aims as an exegete. 

On page 938 of the work above quoted we read, 
"Neo-Platonism, — an eclectic philosophy nearly 



coeval in origin with Christianity, but developed in 
3n anti-christian and pantheistic direction. * * 
* The term, in its narrow, and perhaps more com- 
mon acceptation, is applied to the doctrinal system 
of the philosophical school -founded at Alexandria, 
in Egypt, by Ammonius Saccas, in the first half of 
the third century after Christ, and continued by his 
pupils and successors, not only in the city of its 
origin, but also in other places. * * * Many 
of the early Christian writers advocated the em- 
ployment of the philosophical methods to elucidate 
*md establish the doctrines of the gospel, and were, 
-consequently, to a greater or less extent imbued 
with the spirit, and favored the professed objects 
of the Neo-Platonists, i. e., the conciliation of phil- 
osophy and religion; but the pagan school, 
especially during its later history, was characterized 
by an intense hostility to Christianity, as well as by 
theosophical views and thurgic practices." 

Now, having seen what Neo-Platonism was, 
and what were its objects, let us see how Origen 
stands related to it, and what were the sources from 
which, or the aims of the person from whom he 
imbibed these notions. On page 940 of the same 
authority already quoted, under the head of "Am- 
monius Saccas," we read, — "Ammonius, called Sac- 
cas * * (A. D. 175 to 250) is -usually regarded 
as the founder of the Alexandro-Roman school of 
Neo-Platonism. He was born of Christian par- 
ents, and by them trained in the principles of their 
faith, but probably apostatized when his mind be- 

89 



*mmt absorbed in the study of heathen philosophy. 
* * * He founded a school of philosophy, and 
attracted to it pupils whose subsequent fame as 
-philosophers made the name of their master illus- 
trious. Of these, the most prominent are Plotinus, 
the two Origens, the philologist Longinus and 
Hermennius." Now, let us go back to page 939 
of the same work and quote a little. 'The earliest 
in point of time, as well as the most important, of 
those philosophers whom we shall mention as 
among the precursors of Neo-Platonism, was Philo, 
commonly surnamed Judaeus. * * * He em- 
ployed the allegorizing method of interpreting the 
Scriptures * * * and sought to harmonize the 
philosophy of religion with that of Plato, Aristotle 
and others. His theology, consequently, was a 
blending of Platonism and Judaeism. Among 
other names prominently connected with Neo- 
Platonism is to be found the names of Porphery, 
the famous opponent of Christianity, a pupil, first 
of Origen, at Caesarea, then of Longinus at Athens, 
and finally of Plotinus at Rome. Also the name 
of "J u H an ^e apostate/' who renounced the Chris- 
tian faith, and became one of its most virulent and 
dangerous foes, and an earnest and influential 
friend and patron of Neo-Platonism and the old 
heathen cultus" (page 942). 

//During the reign of Emperor Alexander Sev- 
erus, who was a member of the Oriental apbstacy, 
Origen lent the whole weight of his talent and in- 
-fluence to .aid the emperor in his design; to unite 

-so 



all icreeds in one at Rome, and with a view: to this 
end he prevailed upon the emperor to add the name 
of Christ to the number of his gods. He then im- 
mediately changed his own name, originally Ad- 
mantus, adopting that of Origen." From that 
moment the distinctive doctrines of the gospel 
ceased to be taught generally. The atonement was 
no longer spoken of; the second advent of Christ, 
and his future kingdom, were denied; the resurrec- 
tion of the body was explained away. The con- 
spiracy triumphed under Pope Damascus (about A. 
D. 381), who declared the Millennium had already 
commenced, and expelled from the Church, as 
heretics, all who looked for Christ's second advent 
and kingdom," (Church History). The italics in 
the preceding paragraphs are ours. 

On page 841, Vol. vii., Encyl. Brit, we read, — 
"He (Origen) distinguished a three-fold sense of 
Scripture, a gramatico-historical, a moral, and a 
pneumatic, — the last being the proper and highest 
sense." 

'■"He thus set up a formal theory of allegorical 
exegesis, which is not quite extinct in the churches 
even yet, but in his own system was of fundamental 
importance. On this method, the sacred writings 
are regarded as an inexhaustible mine of phil- 
osophical and dogmatic wisdom; in reality, ^the 
exegete reads his own ideas into any passage he 
chooses," (italics are ours) ,* * -the old Chris- 
tian eschatology is set aside; no one has dealt such 
deadly blows to Chiliasm (millenarianism) and 



• ;91 



Christian apocalypticism as Origen. It need hardly 
be said that he spiritualized the church doctrine of 
the resurrection of the flesh" (page 842). 

The fact is, the plain eschatology of the Bible 
was abhorrent to his system of exegesis, and he, 
therefore, denied it, precisely as more modern 
"higher critics" do with everything in the sacred 
book that repugns their system. 

From the foregoing liberal quotations it is evi- 
dent, that the earliest Christian Fathers, and the 
primitive Christian Church held and proclaimed 
the identical views we have been maintaining, as to 
the nature, manner and premillennial character of 
the Second Advent, and that the philosophical 
school of Neo-Platonists at Alexandria with which 
Origen was affiliated, was the mephitic swamp of 
Oriental and Greek philosophical speculation, 
whence flowed the turbid stream of allegorical Bib- 
Heal exegesis, which has been vitiating and corrupt- 
ing Christian doctrine through all the centuries 
which have since intervened, and that Origen, 
standing as he did at the fountain head, and having 
his mind and thought saturated, as the result of 
such intimate and constant association with those 
pagan philosophers, with their fanciful speculations, 
became the great reservoir of the Church into 
which were gathered those poisonous waters which, 
through a thousand or ten thousand channels, have 
been transmitted and distributed through the 
Church and world. 



9% 



CHAPTER V. 



PROPHECIES AND SIGNS. 



"WATCHMAN WHAT OF THE NIGHT?" 
Examination of Prophecy. — Evidence of the Ap- 
proaching End of the Age, and Imminence of 
the Savior's "Return. — Time, Periods, Dates. — 
Views and Computations of Mr. H. Grattan 
Guinness. — Views and Chart of Mr. J. B. Dim- 
bleby, Premier Chronologist to the British 
Chronological and Astronomical Association, 
London. — The Principle of "Septiform Periodi- 
city." — Signs. 

In the previous chapters, having discussed the 
nature and manner of the Second Advent; having 
established the fact that it is premillennial, and that, 
while the exact time of its occurrence is kept a 
profound secret in the mind and counsels of the 
Almighty, and will not be known till the stupend- 
ous event startles a stupid, carnal world with its 
momentous presence. Having also shown that its 
approach and proximity may, and will be discerned 
by the waiting and watching Christian who gives 
heed to the Prophetic Scriptures, and the signs of 
the times, the next question in natural order is, "is 
the Second Advent imminent or may the Lord's re- 
turn be expected soon?" 

93 



This section of our theme, though of para- 
mount importance and interest, must necessarily, 
in a work of this compass, be treated with great 
brevity, nevertheless, .we will endeavor to be com- 
prehensive enough to satisfy the mind of the ordin- 
ary reader. The student and. those who are zealous 
and enthusiastic in the pursuit of knowledge upon 
this theme, will find in the work of Mr. H. Grattan 
Guinness entitled "The Approaching End of. the 
Age// (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 27 Pater- 
noster Row,, 1894), not only a very interesting and 
full discussion of, this subject, but also,, on page <58o, 
a very large catalogue of the works of other writers 
on the same theme. 

.In the investigation of this question there are 
two fields of enquiry or two sources of evidence. 
One is the symbolic Prophecies, as of Daniel or the 
Apocalypse, which, in a series of apt figures or 
symbols, part of which are therein directly inter- 
preted to us, as a sort of key to help us to a full and 
final solution, reveal to us the course of the world's 
history, in its largest outline, down to the end of 
this age and the establishment of Christ's millennial 
reign, as the beginning of a new era or age. The 
other field of enquiry or source of evidence, is "the 
signs of the times," physical and moral, for which 
a gage has been given us, or a photograph, so to 
speak, by Christ and the apostles, by which to 
measure or compare them, and so, to determine 
whether or not "the time of our redemption draw- 
eth nigh." And, while the prophetic charts are 

94 



drawn in symbols, we believe the signs which have • 
been given us as a token or harbinger of the com-' 
ing redemption of the saints, both living and dead,' 
from the curse and consequences of sin,--from' 
moral and physical corruption, to moral and physi- 
cal immortality or eternal life, — are literal. Yes f 
we believe the signs given us by our Savior as pre- 
monitory of His second coming are to bev literally. T 
fulfilled, and we grow unutterably weary . of that 
stupid scepticism of the human mind and heart' 
which is constantly betraying itself in the refusal 
to accept the plain words of Christ, and the Sacred 
Scriptures, just as they stand, but with impious 
audacity, explains them away, or perverts their 
meaning, rather than admit their possibility. Why 
may there not be signs in the physical world at 
Christ's second advent? Were there none at His 
first advent, — -at His birth, and at His death? Is 
the~story:of "the star in the east," the light at night 
upon ? the Judean plains, and the song of the angels: 
untrue? Was there no earthquake, no rending of 
the veil of the temple, no darkness from the sixth 1 
till the ninth hour, at the time of the crucifixion? 
If these are, indeed, facts of history, howeven de- 
pendent upon, or explicable by natural causes they 
may have been, why is the predicted darkening, of 
the^sun, the refusal of the moon to give her light, 
the falling of the stars from heaven, and the shaking 
of the powers of heaven, any more wonderful or- 
less possible, as a sign or harbinger of- the coming' 
redemption of the earth and of the race? And, if 



0S\ 



ever words fell from the lips of Christ which de- 
mand our most reverent and explicit acceptance 
and belief, they are these very words where he tells 
us of the signs in the sun, moon, stars, the waves 
of the sea, and the powers of the heavens, since 
He follows them immediately with the solemn as- 
severation, "heaven and earth shall pass away, but 
My words* shall not pass away." 

:In examining the question before us, our first 
enquiry will be in the field of Prophecy, and we will 
select for our first investigation the prophecies of 
Daniel, which have, in our humble opinion, been 
rescued from all cavil, criticism, or doubt as to their 
authenticity and value as Prophetic Scripture by 
the recognition of the Christ Himself, who, in His 
conversation with His disciples on the subjects of 
the destruction of Jerusalem, of His own second 
coming, and of the end of the age, — separate sub- 
jects, though all briefly spoken of in the conversa- 
tion alluded to, — said, "when ye therefore shall see 
the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel 
the prophet, stand in the holy place, etc." 

The "higher critics" may amuse themselves, 
gratify their pride of erudition, or their self-conceit, 
by questioning or denying the authorship of the 
book of Daniel, if they please, but both they and 
their "higher criticism" will, sooner or later, pass 
into eternal oblivion, while the words of Jesus, 
which "never pass away," and which recognize 
both the book and the prophetic power and author- 
ity of Daniel, and which have been inscribed by the 



pen of the evangelists upon the pages of Sacred 
Truth, shall continue to proclaim the divine en- 
dorsement of the book and of the prophet down 
through the everlasting ages. 

Daniel presents to our view a series of prophetic 
pictures or sketches of the world's political history 
from the time of Nebuchadnezzar, or the establish- 
ment of the Babylonian empire down to the final 
overthrow of all human governments, and the 
establishment of the divine government of the 
world, politically and socially, under the Messianic 
Kingdom. These pictures are mere sketches of the 
larger outlines of political history, each successive 
picture being slightly more comprehensive, and 
embracing a few more details than its predecessor. 
The object of this repetition in different form and 
in increasing detail is, without doubt, to attract and 
fasten the mind upon the prophecy, and to aid in 
its interpretation. 

The first picture given is the metalic image 
which is contained in the dream of Nebuchadnez- 
zar, and which Daniel, by the aid of the Divine 
Spirit, reproduces and interprets (Daniel ii.) This 
sketch is the merest skeleton, so to speak, of his- 
tory, — the frame work, around which the tissue 
and fibre of history, in all its infinite detail, gathers. 
Naked as it is, however, it is admirably adapted to 
display with the utmost clearness, and to establish, 
certain fundamental and important truths, by tak- 
ing heed to which, the student of prophecy will be 
guarded from error in his conclusions with regard 

97 



to one of the most essential and vital points in those 
prophetic utterances, viz.: the relative time of the 
Second Advent and of the establishment of the 
Messianic Kingdom. 

This image of various metals, as the prophet 
himself instructs us, represents the great kingdoms 
or empires, — in fact, the universal empires of the 
world. That they are the universal empires is evi- 
dent, first, from the particular emphasis which the 
prophet puts upon the universal dominion of the 
first, or Babylonian kingdom, in verse 38th, and of 
the statement in the 39th verse of the universal do- 
minion of the second and third kingdoms which 
were to succeed the Babylonian, and, secondly, it 
is also evident from the limitation by the Prophet, 
to the number of four, the kingdoms which are to 
precede the Messianic kingdom, for, while the great 
powers or governments w 7 hich have appeared on 
the earth since the fall of the Babylonian empire 
have been numerous, there have been but four uni- 
versal empires. The reference, therefore, must be 
to those. Of this, however, no doubt is left in the 
mind after considering the third picture or symbol, 
which the Prophet gives in the 8th chapter, where 
the second and third kingdoms are specifically 
stated to be the empires of Medo-Persia and 
Greece, and where the fourth kingdom is so de- 
scribed as to make it apparent that the empire of 
Rome is meant, which are the four, and only four 
universal empires of history. We repeat, some 
things are made perfectly clear from this prophetic 

98 



symbol or image, and especially the relative time, — - 
the time as it stands related to the four great, uni- 
versal empires of the world, — of the establishment 
of the Messianic Kingdom. 

It will be observed in this prophetic picture 
that when the Stone appears, — the "stone cut out 
of the mountain without hands," which represents 
the Messianic Kingdom, — it strikes the image vio- 
lently upon the feet, grinding the whole image into 
powder, which immediately and forever disappears 
from the face of the earth. There is no ambiguity 
about this. It is perfectly clear. It indicates that 
the Messianic Kingdom comes after the last of the 
four universal empires. It does not synchronize 
with it or with any of them, or run parallel with 
them, but succeeds them all. It does not, in a quiet 
way, imperceptibly insinuate itself into the others, 
gradually metamorphosing and absorbing them 
or any one of them, but smites them suddenly and 
violently, — smites the image upon the feet; the very 
extremity of the last section of the image; the end 
or closing period of the Roman empire, and obliter- 
ates forever all merely human governments, substi- 
tuting therefor the Messianic Kingdom. 

Whatever truth, therefore, there may be in a 
so-called spiritual kingdom, or reign of Christ in 
the hearts of men, beginning at the Pentecostal ef- 
fusion of the Spirit, or at any other time, this is not 
that kingdom, but another, and no doubt literal 
kingdom, — the same, unquestionably, as the one 
which, in the 13th and 14th verses of chapter 7, of 

99 



this same book, is represented as being given to 
"one like unto the Son of Man," who came "in the 
clouds of heaven" — and which is described in 
verse 27th as being "under the whole heaven" 
or the world around, for, as "King of Kings 
and Lord of Lords" Jesus shall "reign from 
sea to sea, and from the river to the end of 
the earth." It is to be a fifth, a last, and a 
perpetual kingdom, — universal in a much more 
comprehensive sense than can be applied to any 
other of the previous empires of the world, for it is 
to "fill the whole earth," and " all peoples, nations, 
and languages" shall serve the Messiah King. Of 
the perpetuity of this government we are also as- 
sured, for "His dominion is an everlasting domin- 
ion, which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom 
that which shall not be destroyed" (Chap. 7: 14. 

It will also be observed that when the stone 
smites the image, the ten toes and the mixture of 
clay have been developed in that section of it. 
This indicates that the establishment of the Mes- 
sianic Kingdom must occur at a time subsequently 
to the subversion and division of the Roman em- 
pire. Of course, as before intimated, when the fifth, 
divine empire comes, all merely human govern- 
ments will disappear, at once, from the earth, and, 
according to the principle or axiom, that the 
greater includes the less, not only will the ten-toe 
and clay-mixed period of the Roman empire have 
passed away, but every other phase and vestige of 
it. The only use, therefore, that it is designed to 

100 



make of this allusion to the ten-toe and clay-mixed 
feature of the symbol is, that all theories of the 
Messianic Kingdom, and all interpretations of this 
and other Prophecies, which construct a Messianic 
Kingdom before the subversion and division of the 
Roman empire are erronious. 

But, it will at once be asked, "has not the Ro- 
man period passed away already, and yet the fifth 
or Messianic Kingdom has not been established? 
Has not this prophecy failed?" No, the Roman 
period has not yet passed, but for light on this 
point, or on this phase of the question, we must 
refer to the other pictures or symbols which the 
prophet Daniel gives us. The symbol we have 
been considering conducts us no further than the 
points indicated above. Beyond these points, the 
succeeding symbols find their use and application. 
In order, therefore, to bridge this apparent hiatus 
between the- disappearance of the Roman empire, 
properly so called, and the Messianic Kingdom, we 
must examine the prophetic picture or sketch given 
in Daniel 7. 

In this picture four beasts arise, successively, 
out of the sea, — a lion, a bear, a leopard, and finally 
a beast for which no name is found. Each of these 
beasts presents a different appearance, has different 
characteristics, and conducts itself differently from 
either of the others. The last beast is the more 
formidable, is most strikingly "diverse" from all the 
previous ones, and is distinguished particularly, as 
having "ten horns" out of the midst of which a 

101 



"little horn" arises, which plucks up three of the 
ten horns by the roots. This horn has "eyes like 
a man, and a mouth speaking great things. " 

It is hardly necessary to say here, that the four 
beasts of this prophetic picture, are only another 
representation of the four universal empires sym- 
bolized in the various sections, of differing metals, 
in the "image" of the previous sketch. All 
prophetic students are agreed on this point, and it 
is sufficiently obvious from the explanation of this 
picture which is given to Daniel in verses 17th to 
the end of the chapter. 

Now, the fourth beast in this picture has ten 
horns, as the last section of the image has ten toes. 
Both of these figures or symbols as we before have 
said represent the Roman empire. The delineation 
of the Roman empire in the image goes no farther 
than to present to our view the political change 
which took place in the empire when it became 
divided into ten kingdoms. Here it leaves it. In 
the picture of the beasts, however, the view is ex- 
tended so as to embrace that particular and impor- 
tant political change which occurred when the 
crown and sceptre of the Western section of the 
Roman empire, — the sovereignty and the govern- 
ment, — became vested in the Pontiffs or Popes of 
Rome. 

It is this epoch in the history of the Roman 
power and dominion, — this phase of it, — which, as 
a politico-ecclesiastical government, renders it so 
emphatically "diverse" from any and all of the uni- 



102 



versal empires which preceded it. Under this 
phase it has lasted for 1,200 years, and, though 
badly crippled, and shorn of power in its political 
arm, it still exists, and sways its arrogant and des- 
potic spiritual sceptre, over a vaster extent of terri- 
tory, a greater number of nations, and diversities of 
peoples and races than ever bowed to the yoke of 
the proudest and strongest political empire that 
ever controlled the world. 

This is the "little horn" which arose from the 
midst of the "ten horns, ,, in the prophetic symbol 
of Dan. 7th, whose power, feeble at first, after many 
vicissitudes, after many alternating defeats and 
triumphs, ultimately acquired a magnitude which 
not only distinguished it as "stouter than its 
fellows" of the ten horns from which it sprung, ac- 
cording to the prophetic symbol, but, in its domin- 
ion and tyranny over the consciences of men, and 
the crushing power of its secular arm, has eclipsed 
every other organized human power that has ever 
dominated the globe. 

A passage in Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the 
Roman Empire'' (Milman's, Vol. I., page 447), is 
so a propos here, and serves so appropriately to 
confirm and emphasize this view of the extension 
or prolongation of the Roman period and power 
through the Popes of Rome, that we feel con- 
strained to introduce it at this point. Speaking of 
the site of the gardens and circus of Nero, in Rome, 
— the scene of the inhuman cruelties and butcheries 
practiced upon the Christians of that city by the 



103 



command of this infamous tyrant, Gibbon says, 
"On this spot, a temple, far surpassing the ancient 
glories of the Capitol, has been since erected by 
the Christian Pontiffs, who, deriving their claim 
of universal dominion from an humble fisherman 
of Galilee, have succeeded to the throne of the 
Ctesars, given laws to the barbarian conquerors of 
Rome, and extended their spiritual jurisdiction 
from the coast of the Baltic to the shores of the 
Pacific Ocean'' (italics are ours). 

It is gratifying, in presenting to the reader the 
above quotation from one of the ablest and most 
eminent historians "of any age and of any country," 
to point to the fact that this passage furnishes a 
striking example of a notorious sceptic, and a con- 
spicious despiser of Prophecy, yielding uncon- 
scious and involuntary service in its elucidation and 
interpretation, and helping to confirm and establish 
thereby the truth of the very Scripture whose au- 
thenticity he doubts, and whose authority he scorns. 

The Roman power, therefore, — the fourth king- 
dom, represented by the iron section of the metalic 
image, still exists, and the prophecy has not failed. 
As before stated, it must and will continue to exist 
until at least the approaching dawn of the Mes- 
sianic Kingdom, in order to verify the prophecies 
contained in both of the symbols referred to, viz.: 
the metalic image and the four beasts. Indeed, the 
latter symbolic prophecy specifically declares that 
the "little horn" with its human eyes, and its pre- 
tentious and blasphemous mouth should continue 



104 



till the "Ancient of Days" should come, and having 
executed judgment upon it. should destroy it, and 
transfer the sceptre of universal dominion and 
power to him who shall come "in the clouds of 
heaven," — to the Messiah King. 

As intimated in the 26th verse, however, the de- 
struction of this persecuting power, is not to be 
sudden, but gradual, until final extinction. This 
process of gradual consumption has been going on 
for years, and is still in progress. The temporal 
power of the Pope is gone. His possessions have 
been contracted within the narrow limits of the 
Vatican Palace and grounds, and the secular arm 
of the church, with which he dealt such deadly 
blows, is permanently paralyzed. The signs of de- 
cay and approaching dissolution are startlingly ap- 
parent. The present occupant of the Papal throne 
is old and feeble, like the Papacy itself. Will he 
have a successor? Many thoughtful men, who 
have scanned with care and skill the prophetic 
records, doubt it. The Prophecies we have been 
considering have almost entirely, if not quite, been 
fulfilled. Their complete translation into history 
must bring the end of the age, and the dawn of the 
Millennial Kingdom. Surely, our "redemption 
draweth nigh." 

But further than this, in the prophecy we are 
examining, . as well as most of the prophecies re- 
ferring, if not to this event particularly, at least to 
the era or period immediately preceding this event, 
^nd whose termination is to mark the dawn, or 

105 



rather the approaching dawn of the new era over 
which Christ shall preside as "King of Kings and 
Lord of Lords," specific time is given, — the time 
of the duration of this preliminary period. In this 
symbolic prophecy of the four beasts of Daniel 7, 
the time of the duration of the persecuting and 
blasphemous power represented by the "little 
horn" is given, but is expressed, as all other 
prophetic periods are, in figurative language, — in 
prophetic cypher, so to speak. The duration of 
this power is here said to be until "time, times, and 
the dividing of time," or, as elsewhere expressed, 
(Dan 12:7) "a time, times, and a half," or, as in 
Rev. 12: 14, "a time, times, and a half a time," or 
R ev - 3 : 5 "forty and two months," or, Rev. 12: 6, "a 
thousand, two hundred and three score days." 

Now, we do not for a moment doubt that these 
prophetic numbers, or figures, or periods, have as 
important a place in the Prophetic Record, and 
that just as intelligent a purpose or design has 
placed them there, as may be claimed for any and 
every other part of Scripture Prophecy, but, we 
doubt that they were ever placed upon the record of 
Prophecy to enable men, at any time within the 
present age, or during the period embraced in these 
figures to predict the exact time of the coming of 
"the Son of Man/' and the establishment of the 
Messianic Kingdom. 

The conspicuous and humiliating failures which 
have followed such attempts in the past, and which 
have brought dishonor and discredit not only upon 

106 



Prophetic Scripture, but upon the entire canon, 
afford painful evidence of their imprudence and 
folly. 

We nevertheless believe that the key to the in- 
terpretation of these numbers or cyphers has been 
found, and that the period of time which they indi- 
cate has been accurately measured, and is correctly 
expressed as 1,260 solar years, and that the errors 
which have been made by prophetic students have 
been, not so much errors of computation, as errors 
of application, — that is to say in applying these 
figures to wrong periods, starting them from wrong 
points in the world's history, applying them to gov- 
ernments and powers for which they were not de- 
signed, and lastly, and more particularly, we think 
that a very general error has been made in the ap- 
plication of these figures, by confounding together 
two separate and very distinct things, viz: the 
overthrow of the persecuting power indicated in 
the prophecy, and the second coming of Christ, 
and of his kingdom, or, to state it more clearly, 
in associating together in close or immediate syn- 
chronism the downfall and obliteration of the pow- 
ers to which the figures properly and only refer, on 
the one hand, and on the other, the "Second Ad- 
vent," and the establishment of the Messianic King- 
dom. 

The exhaustion of the periods indicated by the 
prophetic cypher will mark the downfall of certain 
powers, perhaps practically, of human govern- 
ments, and it is true that the next great event in the 

105 



world's history, after such downfall, will be the 
"coming of the Son of Man," and, witltin an in- 
definite period thereafter, the inauguration of the 
Messianic Kingdom, but there may be, and very 
likely will be, space enough between the closing 
of the era indicated by the prophetic cypher, and 
the "second coming," to make that portentous 
event sudden enough, startling enough, and unex- 
pectedly enough to verify the statement of the 
Savior, that "as a snare shall it come upon all them 
that dwell on the face of the whole earth." 

The parable of the "ten virgins" suggests a 
very strong probability of this being the case. A 
fair exposition of the parable is this, — there will 
be a great awakening among believers with regard 
to the "second coming," caused, we apprehend, by 
the extensive study of the prophecies, and by the in- 
terpretation of prophetic symbols and periods, but 
more particularly by the lapsing of those periods, 
the actual overthrow of the powers indicated by 
those symbols, and the exhaustive fulfillment of 
prophecy. But, there will immediately follow 
a disappointing delay. Unexpectedly, "the bride- 
groom tarries." During this delay the faith and ex- 
pectation of believers w r ill grow torpid, and they 
will lapse into lethargy or apathy more or less com- 
plete, — "while the bridegroom tarries, they all 
slumber and sleep," until at length, in the midst 
of this midnight darkness, and this numbness of 
faith and of spiritual sensibility, the cry will be 
heard, "behold the bridegroom cometh." 

10s 



In fact, such a lapse, between the exhaustive ful- 
fillment of the prophetic periods, and the actual 
"appearing" of Christ, must occur, in order to ver- 
ify and fulfill the repeated and explicit statements 
of our Lord, with reference to the suddenness and 
unexpectedness of this event, for it must be quite 
evident that, if the exhaustion of those prohphetic 
periods mark, not only the overthrow of certain 
powers, but the simultaneous coming of "the Son 
of Man," and if these periods have been and are 
correctly interpreted, there can not, therefore, be 
any thing sudden or unexpected in the event. Nor 
will it do to say, by way of evading this argument, 
that it is to the unbeliever, the careless, and the 
sinner alone that the event will be sudden and un- 
expected, and that to this class, in spite of the in- 
terpretation and fulfillment of prophecy, the event 
will take them at unawares, since Christ's warnings 
were not given to this class, but to His immediate 
and faithful disciples, and to them His declaration 
ever is "watch ye therefore, for ye know not, &c," 
and besides, as we have just quoted, He said that 
"as a snare shall it come upon all those that dwell 
on the face of the whole earth." 

It is always wise as well as reverent to respect 
the strict accuracy, and unerring precision of the 
Savior's language, and it is always presumptuous to 
set aside His words, or to strain their obvious 
meaning, so as to adapt them to our theories. This 
practice has always been, and is now by far too 
common and widespread. 



109 



The prophetic periods we have been consider- 
ing are, of course, variously applied and inter- 
preted by different prophetic students and exposi- 
tors, and, while dogmatism is offensive and intol- 
erable at all times, and in regard to any department 
of Scripture teaching, it is particularly so in that 
department of Scripture which of all others, is the 
most vague and obscure, viz: the prophetic. 

Without, therefore, any inclination to dogma- 
tize, w r e desire to say that, after a somewhat care- 
ful investigation of various theories of prophetic 
interpretation or application, it is our conviction 
and judgment that that view 7 which makes the 
"fourth beast" the Roman empire; the "little horn" 
of Dan. vii., the papacy (which was a direct and 
intimate outgrowth of the Roman empire); which 
makes the "time, times, and dividing of time" the 
measure of the duration of the papacy, and which 
reckons the time of that duration 1260 years, is the 
most obvious and rational, and presents the most 
perfect coincidence between symbol and thing sym- 
bolized, — between type and antitype. Not only 
this, but the papacy in every feature of it, — in the 
place an manner of its rise, the seat of its power, 
its historic character, corresponds, as no other 
power does, not simply with the prophetic features 
of the Prophecies of Daniel, but with those of the 
coincident Prophecies of the "Man of Sin" in Thes- 
salonians, and "Babylon the Great" of Revelations. 
The papacy is, in fact, the subject of a four-fold 
Prophecy, whose minutest delineations find their 

110 



counterparts in the Papacy alone of all the human 
powers that ever dominated the earth. 

So far as the merely chronological features of 
the prophecy are concerned, with a little ingenious 
adjustment of dates, &c, it can be made to sup- 
port fairly well any or all the various theories of 
prophetic interpretation or application, but figures 
are susceptible of such marvelous manipulation, and 
are thus so treacherous and misleading, that we are 
inclined to yield our preference to that interpreta- 
tion of the Prophecies which has the advantage of 
both chronological adjustment and complete coin- 
cidence of type with antitype. This, without con- 
troversy, can be claimed for that interpretation, as 
we have said, which identifies the Papal Power 
with the "little horn" of Dan. vii., and the best and 
most recent expositors compute that the prophetic 
period which marks the duration of this power ex- 
pires from 1898 A. D. to 1923 A. D. Verily the 
"coming of the Son of Man" and of the heavenly 
kingdom hasten. 

The dates above given as marking the termina- 
tion of the "times of the Gentiles," and, according 
to some, of the "Jewish times" as well, have been 
obtained by the careful and studious examination of 
Prophecy, especially that of Daniel and the Apoc- 
alypse, as the result of which it has been discov- 
ered that the prophetic "seven times" represents a 
period of 2,520 years; that it is a "great week" of 
years of years, or, in other words, a week, each 
day of which measures 360 years; that the prophetic 

111 



"time, times, and half a time" is just one-half such 
week, or 1260 years; that the "forty-two months/" 
and the "1260 days" of the Apocalpyse are identical 
with the latter period, or half week, and by applying 
this last period to the papal power, as being the 
power represented by the "little horn," and, accord- 
ing to Mr. H. Grattan Guinness, dating the rise 
of that power, not from any single date or event in 
its history, but from a series of events connected 
with and marking its rise, covering a series of 
dates, or periods of about a century, from the de- 
cree of the Emperor Justinian A. D. 533 recog- 
nizing the Bishop of Rome as "the head of all the 
holy Churches, and all the holy priests of God," 
to the decree of Pope Vitalian, A. D. 633, Latiniz- 
ing the Churches throughout Christendom, and 
thus effectually and permanently fixing the ascend- 
ency of the Bishop or Pope of Rome, — applying, 
we say, the 1260 years to any point in this period 
of the rise and development of the Papacy, a cor- 
responding point marking the progress of its de- 
cline and final fall is reached. Thus, from the de- 
cree of Justinian constituting the Bishop of Rome 
the supreme head of the Churches, and thus defi- 
nitely fixing the year of the official establishment of 
the papal supremacy, viz: from A. D. 533, the pe- 
riod of 1260 years stretches to A. D. 1793 and the 
French revolution. This year (1793) a critical point 
in that revolution was reached by the execution of 
Louis XVI. on the 21st of January, and the ter- 
mination of the French monarchy. This revolution 

112 



sustains a very intimate relation to the decline of 
the papal power. It was the earliest and most po- 
tent agent in the overthrow of that power. The 
International Cyclopedia, vol. vi., page 216, speak- 
ing of this revolution, says: "On the 20th of Jan- 
uary, 1793, sentence of death was passed upon him 
(the king of France) and on the following day he 
was beheaded. Revolts broke out in every part of 
France. *. * * Christianity (Romanism, of 
course,) was now formally deposed (that is to say, 
in France, which had been its sturdiest champion 
and defender) and the sacredness of the republic, 
and worship of reason solemnized. " 

Again, from the decree of the emperor Phocas 
"confirming the primacy of the see of Rome over 
that of Constantinople and all the Eastern and 
Western churches," viz: A. D. 607, the 1260 years 
measure to 1867. In that year France, which was 
once more the defender of Romanism, and the sup- 
porter of the temporal power of the Pope in the 
papal states, began to withdraw her troops from 
Rome, and what were not withdrawn that year re- 
mained a comparatively short time, as the exeg- 
encies of the Franco-Prussian war which soon fol- 
lowed (1870) compelled the withdrawal of the last 
French detachment, on August 8, 1870, putting an 
end to the French protectorate of the papal states. 
On the 20th of the following month the Italian 
troops under Gen. Cadrona entered Rome. On the 
2d of October the unity of the Italian kingdom 
was accomplished by the absorption of the papal 



113 



states, and the temporal possessions and power of 
the Pope were gone. From A. D. 633, the year of 
the decree of Pope Vitalian Latinizing the 
Churches throughout Christendom, 1260 years 
reach to the year A. D. 1923. 

To satisfy the curiosity or interest of the reader, 
we will introduce here, by way of illustrating the 
application of the year-day principle of interpreta- 
tion, a quotation and example from a pamphlet en- 
titled "The New Era at Hand/ by Mr. J. B. Dim- 
bleby, Premier Chronologist to the British Chrono- 
logical and Astronomical Association, London. It 
will be observed that this gentleman's view is, that 
the "little horn" of Daniel's Prophecy (Dan. vii.) 
represents the Mohammedan power. Well, we 
wish simply to say here, that while differing with 
him in this view, as before intimated, we have ab- 
solutely no controversy with him on the point, as 
the Prophecy, in its general features, at least, will 
apply as well to the "Mohammedan power," as to 
the "Papal power," and the former power, of which 
the Ottoman Empire and the Sultan of Turkey are 
the recognized representatives, has been passing 
through the same process of decay, and exhibits to- 
day the same ominous decrepitude that is visible in 
the Papacy. The fiendish massacres of the past 
year or two, practiced upon the Armenians by Mo- 
hammedan fanaticism and deviltry, and without 
doubt under the secret sanction, if not direction of 
the Sultan, may be the overflowing drops in the 
"full cup" of Mohammedan "iniquity" which shall 



114 



speedily bring down upon it the pent up wrath and 
vengeance of Almighty God.* But, as there is an- 
other "little horn" mentioned in Dan. viii., in con- 
nection with another specific prophecy, we prefer 
the belief that the "little horn" of Dan. vii. prefig- 
ures the Papacy, while that of Dan. viii. points to 
the Mohammedan power, and as both these perse- 
cuting powers took their rise at the same time, 
practically, — the birth of Mohammed being in the 
year A. D. 570, and the accession of Gregory the 
Great, who w r as the first, in our modern sense of the 
word, of the Popes, in A. D. 590, — the application 
of the prophetic period indicates a very close syn- 
chronism. 



*Since the above was written; the fact that the Sultan authorized and 
was responsible for the massacres of the Armenians above referred to, 
is now known to all the world, and the pages of future history which will 
narrate the events of the Ottoman Empire under the reign of Abdul 
Hamid will record this fact. 

The Greco-Turkish war has also occured since the above was written, 
and all are familiar with its events and results. The Greeks have been 
crushed. Thessaly is in the hands of the Turks, and is occupied by a 
large army which is daily strengthening its position. The military pres- 
tige of Turkey has been enormously advanced by these successes, and 
the mutual jealousies, distrust, and bad faith of the European Powers 
seem to shield and protect her against any effective interference on their 
part in her manifest design to absorbe Thessaly. To the superficial and 
unreflecting observer, these facts make the overthrow of the Ottoman 
Empire (representing the Mohammedan power), and the disintegration 
of its territory, in the near future, extremely improbable. But, abortive 
as has been the diplomacy of Europe, hitherto, in inducing Turkey to 
comply with the demands of the joint note of the nations interested, the 
moment is approaching with great rapidity when the powers of Europe, 
stultified in their own eyes, as well as in the eyes of the world at large, by 
their own indecision and their apparent inability to agree upon coercive 
measures, and irritated by the insolence of the Turk, who keenly appreci- 
ates and is taking all possible advantage of their impotence,— the moment, 
I say, is rapidly approaching, when, the pride of the European nations 
being stung beyond the point of endurance, some one or more of them, 
despairing of a general "entente" will act independently and with deter- 
mined vigor, and will not stop until the Turk is crushed, his power de- 
stroyed for ever, and his territory dismembered, Very possibly Russia, 
aided or backed by Germany, will take the opportunity, and use the ex- 
cuse afforded by the present situation to carry out her long cherished 
design of seizing and retaining premanent possession of Constantinople 
and the Bosphorus, which will only be the first step toward the final and 
speedy explusion of the Turk from Europe, the complete dismember- 

115 



We will now quote from Mr. Dimbleby: "What, 
then, are the means by which we expect the end of 
the present dispensation? In other words, what are 
the prophecies of Scripture which we have to no- 
tice? I answer that they are a period called "seven 
times," which are 2520 years. A time is called 360 
years, therefore "seven times" comprise 2520 years, 
or tw T ice 1260. Observe, there are two periods 
called "seven times." One is called the "times of 
the Gentiles," and the other "the times of the Jews." 
The distinction between them is, that the former 
began with four universal empires, called "beasts," 
in 33764, when Babylon* became mistress of the 
world; and the latter began 30 years later with the 
captivity in 34064* so that the Jewish times are not 
complete till 30 years after the Gentile times are 
ended. Thus — 

Gentile Times. Jewish Times. 

3376i 34o6i 

2520 2520 



5896^ our 1898^ 59264 our 19284 

In Rev. vii., under the figure of a woman clothed 

with the sun, we have the whole period of the seven 

times, forming the history of the militant church, 



ment of his Empire, and its partition among the nations. England will 
take formal possession of Egypt, and using Cyprus, which she now owns, 
as the base of her operations, will, in ali probability, annex Syria. 

The following of recent date (London, Oct. 9, by Commerical Cable 
to the New York Times), will be of interest, as showing the very unsettled 
state of the Greco-Turkish question, and the extremely volcanic political 
conditions which exist in Europe even now, just as this volume goes to 
press: -"The Sultan begins his preparations for evacuating Thessaly by 
sending twenty thousand fresh troops of the line thither. The shipping 
of these soldiers, all picked battalions drawn newly from Asia, has been 
proceeding busily all week. A casual explanation is dropped to Europe 

116 



viz: 1260 (verse 8) for the holy city, and forty-two 
months, which are 1260 day-years, or a period of 
the same length (verse 14) for the Mohammedan 
desolation of Christendom. — Total 2520. 

As to how long the four beasts were to flourish, 
we get it from the facts of history, and singular to 
state, books of history show that they flourished 
1 260 years, which are "time, times and a half." What 
a key to these times we have in this fact. We are 
also told in Dan. vii., 25, that the "little horn" (evi- 
dently the Mohammedan power, by the facts of his- 
tory) was to have the saints given into his hands for 
a time, times, and a half, which is the other 1260 
years. We have only to put them together: 
Babylon continued. . 90 years from 3376^ to 3466^ 
Medo-Persians " . . 200 years from 3466^ to 3666^ 
Grecians . . 304 years from 3666^ to. 3970J 

Romans . .666 years from 3970J to 4636J 



Total 1260 Jerusalem taken by the 

Saracens, 4636J. 
Mohammedan period 1 260 from 4636J to 5896J 

= our 1898I 

2520 years. 



at large, that these reinforcements are designed merely to take the 
places of invalids and disabled men who are being brought away, and 
that when the army of occupation is thus completely restored to effective 
strength, the process of evacuation will begin. 

What is even more interesting, perhaps, than the Sultan's calm cheek 
is the pretense of the embassies at Constantinople and of correspondents 
inspired by them, that they are to believe that the Sultan in pursuing this 
course, is merely trying to fool his Mohammedan subjects. Nobody says 
frankly what everybody is now coming to apprehend, that there is to be 
no evacuation of Thessaly whatever. Instead, we shall have another win- 
ter devoted to fruitless diplomatic cackling over Crete, culminating very 
likely in more massacres and more bombardments before spring " 



117 



We will now append one of Mr. Dimbleby's 
charts in further illustration of the application of 
these figures. We think It will be of interest: 

At this point, in connection with the foregoing 
chart, and what has been said about the /'great 
week" or "seven times' 'of Prophecy, it will interest 
the reader, and stimulate his faith in the great 
truth of Divine Providence, as well as in the in- 
spiration of the Sacred Scriptures, to record the 
fact that in this "time of the end" in which we live, 
foretold by the Prophet Daniel (Chap, xii.) when 
''knowledge is increased," especially the knowledge 
of Prophetic Scriptures, it has been discovered that 
a great, comprehensive, and universal principle or 
law, which has been called the "septiform princi- 
ple," or principle of "septiform periodicity" per- 
vades and is operative throughout the solar sys- 
tem, at least, if not throughout the universe, con- 
trolling and regulating the revolutions of the heav- 
enly bodies, and measuring their vast cycles; di- 
recting and ordering also the life, growth, maturity 
and decay of all organic forms; dividing into septi- 
form periods, and conducting the progress of indi- 
vidual human life from its inception to its close, 
and holding sway over the social and political his- 
tory of the race from the beginning to the end of 
time. 

The prophetic figures or numbers just given 
from Daniel, measure important periods in the 
world's history, and not only do they come within 
the operation of this septiform principle, but, as a 



118 



F both of the same length, 2520 
Ne the latter, and therefore ends 



Babylon . 



Medo-Per 



pires lasted 1260 years, and that 
90 "immediately succeeded the Ro- 



200 



304 



Pagan Rome 



First 1260 



The Anti- 
christ of Mo- 
ll am ed an 
power tread- 
ing down Je- 
rusalem 1260 
years. 



The Second.. 1260 



2520 



of Time: 



p," being months of 30 days. 



50 times in the Scriptures, and 
^e "regeneration," "restoration," 

'my day," "which Abraham saw 
\ will break into pieces the king- 
ie reward to his servants," "the 
ing and kingdom,"— all of which 
ad of the Gentile times, in 589634. 



THE APPROACHING CLOSE OF THE PROPHETIC PERIODS. 



Mahomi 
3376'/g Babylc 



Beast became Universal Empire. 
3406'/. Cap.ivity of 70 years began. 

3451% Daniel's vision of 4 beasts. 

3666% Alexander "he goat" began. Dan. > 
4029% Crucifixion. 



power tread- 
ing down Je- 
rusalem 1260 



The Second.. 1260 « 



Bibical Standards of Time: 



300 a time, 


jr 360 years. 


360 , K J 

360 > nmes 


or two times. 


180 half a t 




1260 years, e 


numerated as "days. 


1260 also en 


merated as "42 mor 


2520 years, o 


r "seven times » 


The period "th 


t day" occurs abou 



t 150 times in the Scriptures, and 
always in an emphatic sense, indicating the "regeneration," "restoration," 
"the day of the Lord Jesus," "his time," "my day," "which Abraham saw 
and was glad." "the period when the stone will break Into pieces the kinp,- 

grand levee," "the rapture of his appearing and kingdom,"— all of which 
point out that it is the 30 years from the end of the Gentile limes, In 6808! ,, 



:s end, Turkey falls. 



Period of 30 years, c 
s 1928M, end of Jev 



consequence, coincide with the soli-lunar cycles. 
A little over half a century ago M. De Cheseaux, 
a Swiss astronomer, while studying the Prophecies 
of Daniel, discovered this startling fact. He also 
discovered that the difference between the 1260 
years embraced in the "time, times, and dividing of 
time" of Dan. vii. and the 2300 day-years of Dan. 
viii., viz: 1040 years "is the largest accurate soli- 
lunar cycle known." 

M. De Cheseaux says: "On examination of the 
period of 1040 years by the best modern astronom- 
ical tables, I found that it was even so (a perfect 
cycle, free from error). Its error is absolutely im- 
perceptible, in so long a period, and may indeed 
be accounted for by errors in the tables themselves, 
owing to the inaccuracy of some of the ancient 
observations on which they are founded." (H. 
Grattan Guinness, in "The Approaching End of the 
Age," page 403). 

Mr. Guinness, in the work referred to, speaking 
of the following prophetic periods, viz: 

65 years Isa. vii., 8. 

70 years Jer. xxv., 7. 

490 years Dan. ix. 

2300 years Dan. viii. 

1260 years Dan. vii. 

2520 years Dan. iv. 

1290 years Dan. xii. 

1335 years Dan. xii. 

30 years Dan. xii. 

45 years .Dan. xii. 

119 



2595 years Dan. xii. 

iooo years Rev. xx. 

says: "A little consideration will show a va- 
riety of beautiful and harmonious relations between 
these apparently dissimilar and incongruous pe- 
riods. 

They are all proportionate parts of a great week 
of millenaries, and fit into each other, and into a 
framework of 7000 years, in a way that proves al- 
most to demonstration, that they are designed so 
to do. 

The 70 years of the Captivity may be regarded 
as a day; the 490 years of the restoration is then 
a week of such days; the 1260 years of the domin- 
ion of the little horn is eighteen such days; the 
2520 years of the times of the Gentiles is thirty-six 
such days (a tenth of 360 or a year of such days), 
and the 2300 years to the cleansing of the Sanc- 
tuary is a third of the whole period, the nearest 
third of seven millenaries possible in centuries. 

Of all these periods the root is evidently the 
iveek of years, the seven years which, under the 
Levitical economy, extended fcom one sabbatic 
year to another. 

The 70 years during which the Babylonish Cap- 
tivity was appointed to endure, were 10 such weeks, 
and the 490 years of the restored Judaism 70. The 
little horn was to reign 180 such weeks, and the 
"Times of the Gentiles' 'to extend over 360, or an 
entire year of such weeks, while the whole period 
of seven millenaries contains 1000 such weeks. 

120 



It must be remembered also that the Jubilee pe- 
riod established under the law of Moses, was seven 
such weeks, or 49 years; so that the period of re- 
stored Judaism to the time of Messiah the Prince, 
was a ten-fold Jubilee, or 490 years. 

It should be further noted that the two principal 
of these periods, the 2520 years, and the 2300 years, 
relate respectively the one to the THRONE, the 
other to the SANCTUARY; the first embracing 
the whole period of Gentile rule, from the conquest 
of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar to the establishment 
of the kingdom of Christ, the true son of David; 
and the other extending from the time of the 
Medo-Persian kingdom, to the final cleansing of the 
Sanctuary, when Jerusalem ceases to be trodden 
down of the Gentiles, the times of the Gentiles be- 
ing fulfilled. The one is thus civil the other sacred 
in character. 

Harmonious and deeply significant mutual rela- 
tions subsist therefore among these periods, and 
between them and the legal and ceremonial times 
established under the Mosaic economy. It remains 
to show that they are connected also with other pe- 
riods of Jewish history, and that though they are 
not all soli-lunar cycles, they form a series of septi- 
form soli-lunar periods, and that, of so marked and 
accurate character, as to preclude all thought of 
accidental coincidence, and to declare with unmis- 
takable clearness the Creator's plan." 

No wonder then that the number seven had a 
sacred character in the estimation of the Jew r s, and 

121 



no wonder it is spoken of as denoting perfection, 
completeness, as used in Scripture, since the Great 
Architect of the universe, when He constructed and 
organized the solar system in which He has es- 
tablished our habitation, made this number the 
chief of numbers, the ruler or controller of our 
astronomical cycles, and planned and measured off 
the great eras in the history of the race to harmon- 
ize with these cycles. No wonder, since in the or- 
ganic world, or world of organic forms, He has es- 
tablished this law of the septiform period to govern 
their development and decay. 

To the scientist and the thoughtful student of 
nature, this ubiquitous law is ever revealing itself, 
and in the science of pathology its presence and in- 
fluence in the progress of disease is clearly recog- 
nized, though no attempt, perhaps, is made to 
understand it, or to trace its cause. In continued 
fevers, for instance, the points of crisis are well 
marked, and known as occurring at intervals of 
seven or multiples of seven days, and, even in 
health, the pulse beats faster in the morning for 
six days in succession, and then slower on the 
seventh. 

The very first page of the Bible, — the Book of 
God, — contains a suggestion or intimation of this 
principle or law of "septiform periodicity" in the 
record of creation. For six Great Days, — longer 
than the prophetic days, — millenaries at least, this 
planetary system of which our earth is a member, 
and of which the sun is the center and ruler, was 

122 



in process of evolution under the inspiration and 
guiding hand of the Almighty. These six equal pe- 
riods were followed by a seventh of equal duration, 
during which, the creative work having been pre- 
viously accomplished, God is said to have rested, — 
rested from that particular work of creation. Not 
only this, but for all time thereafter, He blessed 
and hallowed this seventh period. 

We know there are objections to the view that 
the days of creation mentioned in Genesis are long 
periods, and not days of 24 hours, and the objection 
is made on two grounds: first, on the ground that 
there is no Scripture warrant for such an interpre- 
tation of the very plain words used in the record, 
especially as the measure of the periods is indicated 
to lie between "the evening and the morning" — that 
is to say, after every creative act recorded in the 
first chapter of Genesis it is distinctly stated that 
"the evening and the morning" was such and such 
a day." 

The second objection is that if long periods are 
to be allowed as the measure of those days, and if 
evening or darkness succeeded the morning or 
light in each of the periods, and was of the same 
duration; if, in other words, one part of those long 
periods was light and the following part darkness, 
then, all the vegetable, animal, and other life w r hich 
sprang into existence during the long day, must 
necessarily have perished in the long night of dark- 
ness which followed, and the work of creation have 
been vain and useless. 



123 



With the first objection, on general principles, 
we are heartily in sympathy. We have abundantly 
demonstrated in these pages our profound devo- 
tion to the literal interpretation of Sacred Scrip- 
ture, and our abhorrence of the system of Biblical 
exegesis which profanely alters the plain and ob- 
vious meaning of that Scripture, giving to its sim- 
ple statements a tropical or figurative signification, 
which it requires, in many cases, a violent effort to 
extort from them, and all to bring them into adjust- 
ment with a preconceived theory or dogma. But, 
we notice that these same terms, "day" and "even- 
ing and morning" are used in designating some of 
the prophetic periods whose length, it has been 
demonstrated, are certainly more than days of 24 
hours. For example, the literal translation of Dan. 
viii., 14, is "unto evening morning two thousand 
three hundred," the word days is not mentioned, 
and we are sure from the study of Prophecy that 
those 2300 "evenings mornings" are not days or 
periods of 24 hours, but years or periods of 360 
literal days and nights. And, though we recognize 
the essential difference between the prophetic or 
symbolic Scripture and the historic, and admit that 
a figurative signification or application is allow- 
able only to the former, yet, may not the phrase 
"evening and morning" in both of these cases sim- 
ply mean from the dawn or beginning of the pe- 
riods represented in either case by the term "day" 
to its close? 



124 



Such a view of the creative work of God, as it 
relates to our planet and the entire system to which 
it belongs, is certainly more in harmony with the 
revelations of science, with the processes of nature 
as we behold or have learned them, and with what 
we know to be the orderly and leisurely methods of 
the Almighty. 

So far as the second objection is concerned, it 
vanishes at once, if as in the reply to the first objec- 
tion, we are allowed to explain or suggest that the 
phrase "evening and morning" in the record of 
creation, like the "evening and morning" in the 
chronological prophecy, means, from the dawn of a 
period to its close, and has no reference to the alter- 
nations of light and darkness which characterize 
the day and night. 

During the six creative periods, the day and the 
night very likely succeeded each other in regular or- 
der during every 24 hours, just as they do now, — 
indeed, according to the record, the first act of crea- 
tive power exerted by the Almighty in the organi- 
zation of our planetary system, w r as put forth in the 
evolution of light, and its alternation with the 
darkness, and this important creative act was suffi- 
cient to occupy the entire period of the first great 
day. 

Assuming, therefore, these days to be millenar- 
ies, and this opinion is not only an ancient one, but 
has also the support of some of the best of recent 
expositors, the seven great days formed together, 
very likely, the first grand cycle of our system, and 

125 



the last moment of time in the expiring cycle was 
followed by the first moment of time in the new r 
cycle which is now in progress. If the first grand 
cycle consisted of seven millenaries, then seven 
millenaries will, without doubt, complete the sec- 
ond. We are fast approaching the close of the 
sixth millenary in the second cycle. Will the 
seventh in this grand cycle, corresponding to the 
seventh of "rest" in the first one, be the long prom- 
ised and long expected "Millennium?" From the ex- 
haustive fulfillment of prophetic Scripture, and the 
indications of prophetic chronology, as we have 
seen, it looks very much as though it would, and, 
as the Second Advent precedes the Millennium, as 
we have shown, then indeed the "coming of the 
Son of Man" must be nigh, — very nigh. 

Whether the days of creation were millenaries, 
or simple days of 24 hours each, the fact remains 
that the stamp of the septiform law is upon them; 
and, what is true in this respect of the first chapter 
of the Book of God, is equally true of the first chap- 
ter in the last Book of the Sacred Canon, for the 
septiform law is strikingly apparent here also in 
the "seven churches," the "seven stars," and the 
"seven candle-sticks;" and indeed through the en- 
tire book, in the "seven vials," the "seven seals," 
&c, it is exceedingly conspicuous. 

It w 7 ould be very interesting to pursue this line 
of thought for several pages more, but this would 
only tend to defeat one of the principal objects in 
writing this volume, which is, to produce a book on 

126 



the subject of the "second coming of Christ" whick 
would at once be comprehensive enough to satisfy 
the ordinary reader, and not exact from him more 
than a few hours in its perusal. If the book should 
exceed a hundred and fifty pages it would disap- 
point the writer. 

Interesting also as it would be to continue still 
farther the study of Prophecy, and to examine the 
remaining Prophecies of Daniel, especially the one 
contained in the eighth chapter with its "ram which 
had two horns," and the "he .goat" which con- 
quered and succeeded it, which had a "notable horn 
between its eyes;" of the "four horns" which sprang 
from this horn, and of the "little horn" which 
sprang out of one of those four horns; of the 2300 
days, or "evenings-mornings" which mark the 
duration of the power and triumph of this "little 
horn," to which we have already referred, and 
which we believe to represent the "Mohammedan 
power." Intensely interesting also as it would be 
to scan the more important parallel Prophecies of 
the Apocalypse, which by inducing still further de- 
tails, throw still greater light upon the question of 
the "time of the Second Advent," and confirm the 
testimony of the previous Prophecies with reference 
to the proximity of that event and of the millen- 
nial age, the purpose just referred to, to confine 
the review of these subjects within the limits of 150 
pages or thereabouts, and the further fact that this 
volume is not a study of the Prophetic Scriptures, 
will, we trust, be accepted as a sufficient apology 

127 



for omitting to do so. Enough, we are sure, has 
been here said on the subject of Prophecy, and 
enough of light from the Prophecies examined has 
been adduced to indicate very clearly that the 
Lord's return is nigh. 

The next thing in natural order now, is a study 
or examination of the "signs" which Christ said 
were to herald His return, and which He admon- 
ished His disciples to note. The greatest possible 
brevity consistent with the importance of this 
phase of the subject will, for the reasons already 
given, be observed in the treatment of it. 

There is absolutely no more reason, and there- 
fore no more justification for the treatment of these 
"signs" as symbols or figures, than there is for do- 
ing so with the Decalague or the Sermon on the 
Mount, except the reason intimated in the open- 
ing of this chapter, viz: the chronic and inveterate 
scepticism of the human heart, which refuses to ac- 
cept any statement literally, even though it falls 
from -the lips of Christ or is inscribed on the record 
of Sacred Scripture, which intimates or involves an 
interference with the ordinary laws of the universe. 
What then, if natural law is absolutely insuperable, 
about the conception and birth of Christ Himself? 
Where then shall the limit be fixed to this incon- 
sistent scepticism which denies the infraction of one 
of nature's laws, and admits the infraction of an- 
other? Shall it be confined to the interference with 
the motions and phenomena of the heavenly bodies 
only, or must it be permitted a wider range? 

128 



A very considerable class of Bible students, in- 
cluding the "Adventist" bodies, as a whole, believe 
that the major part of those "signs" have been al- 
ready literally fulfilled. The "dark day" of May 
19th, 1780, followed by the dark night, a descrip- 
tion of which is appended in a note* (see note), is 
regarded by them as the specific fulfillment of the 
sign alluded to by Jesus (Math, xxiv., 29,) in the 
words, "Immediately after the tribulation of those 
days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall 
not give her light," and the startling meteoric 
shower of November 13, 1833, also described in the 
appended note, is regarded as the specific fulfill- 
ment of the further sign there alluded to, viz : "and 
the stars shall fall from heaven." The "shaking of 
the powers of the heavens," which is also another 
sign mentioned in the chapter referred to, is sup- 
posed by them to be having its fulfillment at the 
present time in the phenomenal prevalence of cy- 
clones or electric storms, and tornadoes. 



* In "The Last Day Tokens," by S. S Brewer, published by the 
"Scriptural Publication Society," Yarmouth, Maine, we find among 
many others of equal interest the following description of the " Dark 
Day," which was given by Dr. Adams on the 27th of May, 1780; eight 
days after it occurred : — "We had a very extraordinary phenomenon 
the 15th day of this month. In the morning it was rainy till about nine 
o'clock, when the clouds broke away and the sun appeared, but very 
red. After nine the clouds grew very thick, with the wind from the 
southwest, appearing of a yellow hue. At eleven, the public school was 
dismissed, it being so dark that no person could read or write. It 
continued to grow darker till twelve, when it was so dark that we could 
not tell one person from another in a room with three large windows in 
it. In short it was midnight darkness at noonday. The fowls went to 
roost, and there was a strong smell of smoke. It had been very dry for 
a longtime, the wind having been at the east for four or five days, which 
drove the smoke back to the westward. And when the wind shifted it 
brought it all down in a body, which together with the dense clouds. 
caused the darkness, which lasted to three o, clock p. m., before it began 
to grow light. Thousands of people who could not account for it from 
natural causes, were greatly terrified. And indeed it cast a gloom on 

129 



There does not seem to us very much cogency 
in this view, nor does it recommend itself to our 
judgment. Not that very much importance is to be 
attached to the objection which is so frequently 
urged against it, viz : that "dark days" or phenome- 
nal obscurations of the light of the sun and moon 
have many times occurred, and that meteoric show- 
ers are a very common natural phenomenon, gov- 
erned by the ordinary laws of rotation, revolution, 
and gravitation, which control the motion of heav- 
enly bodies and cosmic matter generally, thus caus- 
ing these meteors to recur in periods more or less 
regular, and that cyclones and electric storms have 
existed at all times, though the causes and the laws 
which govern them are yet unknown. This is pos- 
sibly very true, but it is also possibly true that 
God, in the original arrangement of the universe or 
in His control of it at all times has made provision 
for an unusual and exceedingly striking exhibition 
of these phenomena, to fulfill the sign at the time 



earth. The frogs and night hawks began their notes. At four o'clock 
the wind shifted to the northeast, which brought the clouds back, and at 
sunset it was again very dark. At nine it was darkness to be felt by 
more senses than one, as there was a strong smell of soot. Almost every 
one who happened to be out in the evening got lost going home. The 
darkness was as uncommon in the night, as it was in the day, as the 
moon had fulled the day before." 

From the same work we extract the following description of the 
meteoric shower of Nov. 15th. 1833 ■ — The following observations upon 
the falling stars of Nov. 15th, 1833, was furnished by Henry Dana Ward 
for the New York Journal of Commerce, of which city he was at that 
time a resident. " The Falling Stars —In your paper this morning some 
notice is taken of the phenomenon of yesterday. It comes so far short 
of the view taken of it by myself and a number of my friends who gazed 
upon it with me, that I send you the story of that eventful scene as *e 
witnessed it. 

" One of the family arose at five o'clock a. m., to prepare for leaving 
the city on the seven o'clock boat. He threw up the window to see 
whether the dawn had come, and behold the east was lighted up, and 
the heavens were apparently falling. He rubbed his eyes, first in doubt, 

130 



appointed. When the members of this planetary 
system were created, as recorded in the Book of 
God, and the laws established which control their 
motions, &c, it was declared by the "Great Archi- 
tect" whose infinite mind designed the entire sys- 
tem, "let them be for signs, and for seasons, and 
for days and years. ,, 

They need be none the less signs, or means of 
measuring time, or causes of seasons, because God 
has enabled us to study, and permitted us in some 
measure to understand their operation and laws. 
The rain-bow is known to be the effect of the re- 
fraction of light, or of the sun's rays by vapor, but, 
none the less, God decreed that it should be a per- 
petual "sign" or token that He should never again 
overwhelm the world, or destroy the race by a 
flood. The bow may have existed before, or it may 
not, for there are scientists who are persuaded that 
the earth originally rotated on its axis on a plane 
parallel to the plane of its orbit, and that at some 



but seeing on every side the starry firmament as if-it were broken up, 
and falling like theilakes of snow and whitening the skies, he aroused 
the whole family. At the cry, ' look out of the window,' I sprang from a 
deep sleep, and with wonder saw the east lighted up with the dawn and 
METEORS. The zenith, the north, and the west, also showed the 
falling stars in the very image of one thing, and of only one I ever heard 
of. 1 called to my wife to behold ; and while robing, she exclaimed, * see 
how the stars fall.' I replied, 'this is the wonder ;" and we felt in our 
hearts that it was a sign of the last days. For truly, ' the stars of heaven 
fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she 
is shaken of a mighty wind' — Rev. vi, 13. This language of the prophet 
has always been received as metaphorical. Yesterday it was literally 
fulfilled. The ancients understood by aster in Greek and stella in Latin, 
the smaller lights of heaven. The refinement of modern astronomy has 
made the distinction between stars of heaven and meteors of heaven. 
Therefore, the idea of the prophet, as it is expressed in the original 
Greek, was literally fulfilled in the phenomenon of yesterday, so as no 
man before yesterday had conceived to be possible that it should be 
fulfilled. The immense size and distance of the planets and fixed stars 
forbid the idea of their falling unto the earth. Larger bodies cannot fall 

131 



time a catastrophe occurred which altered this, 
causing it to rotate as it does now at an angle to the 
plane of its orbit, whose average value is sixty-six 
and one-third degrees. There is not a word said 
about rain or the existence of rain, in the Bible, as 
existing before the flood. When vegetable life was 
created, according to the Scriptural account, the 
moisture needed for its sustenance was supplied by 
"a mist which went up from the earth and watered 
the whole face of the ground" (Gen. ii., 3), and in 
verse 5 it is distinctly affirmed that "God had not 
caused it to rain upon the earth." By some it is 
supposed that, when the catastrophe above referred 
to occurred, "the waters that were above the firma- 
ment" (at that time) and "which were divided (by 
the firmament) from the waters that were below the 
firmament," as described in Genesis, were precipi- 
tated to the earth, causing the flood, and, by allow- 
ing the sun's rays to come directly down upon the 
earth instead of passing through the previously ex- 



in myriads unto a smaller body ; but most of the planets and all the 
fixed stars are many times larger than our earth. They cannot fall unto 
the earth ; but these fell toward the earth. 

"And how did they fall? Neither myself nor one of the family heard 
any report; and were I to hunt through nature for a simile, I could not 
find one so apt to illustrate the appearance of the heavens as that which 
St. John uses in the prophecy before quoted. ' It rained fire,' says one ; 
another — * It was like a shower of fire;' another— 'It was like the 
large flakes of falling snow before a coming storm, or large drops ot rain 
before a shower.' I admit the fitness of these for common accuracy ; but 
they come far short of the accuracy of the figure used by the prophet. 
'The stars of heaven fell unto the earth.' They were not sheets, or 
flakes, or drops of fire ; but they were what the world understands by 
' falling stars ; ' and one speaking to his fellow in the midst of the scene 
would say, 'See how the stars fall,' and he who heard would not pause to 
correct the astronomy of the speaker, any more than he would reply, 
' the sun does not move,' to one who should tell him, ' the sun is rising. ' 
The stars fell 'even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is 
shaken of a mighty wind.' Here is the exactness of the prophet. The 
falling stars did not come as if from several trees shaken, but from one. 

132 



isting band of water, or dense vapor ("the water 
that was above the firmament,") the whole meteor- 
ological system of the earth was changed, and the 
evaporation and condensation of water first began, 
bringing with it the rain-bow, for the first time in 
the history of the world. No one probably knows, 
and it matters little whether the bow had ever ap- 
peared before or not, God at this time made of it a 
sign and token. Can He not use any of the natural 
phenomena in the same way? And, by intensifying 
any such phenomenon on a special occasion, and 
thus rendering it striking, make of it a sign and 
portent of approaching events previously an- 
nounced, and of the coming or approach of which 
He has declared that that shall be the sign? Is it 
necessary, to fulfill or produce the sign, and satisfy 
the captious and unreasonable objector, that God 
should obscure the sun and moon by other than 
natural causes, and hurl the planets or the stars 
from their spheres? 



Those which appeared in the east fell toward the east; those which 
appeared in the north fell toward the north ; those which appeared in the 
west fell toward the west ; and those which appeared in the south (for I 
went out of my residence into the park) fell toward the south. And they 
fell, not as the ripe fruit falls ; far from it ; but they flew ; they were cast 
like the unripe fruit, which at first refuses to leave the branch, and when 
under a violent pressure it does break its hold, it flies swiftly, straight 
off, descending ; and in the multitude falling, some cross the track of 
others, as they are thrown with more or less force, but each one falls on 
its own side of the tree. Such was the appearance of the phenomenon to 
the inmates of my house. I walked into the park with two gentlemen of 
Pearl street, feeling and confessing that this scene had never been 
figured to our minds by any book or mortal, save only the prophet. 
What would be the next we were at a loss to conceive, consistent with 
the usual course of events. We asked the watchman how long this had 
been ; he said, ' about four o'clock it was the thickest.' 

** We gazed until the rising of the sun put out the 1 esse r falling stars 
with the \zsser fixed stars, and until the morning star stood alone in the 
east to introduce the bright orb of day. And here take the remark of 
one of my friends in mercantile life, who is as well informed in polite 

133 



Our objection to the view that the phenomena 
alluded to, and described in the note, was the ful- 
fillment of any of the signs, rests on entirely differ- 
ent grounds. Our objection is, first, that they do 
not seem to furnish an adequate fulfillment of the 
prediction, and secondly, because there is too great 
a lapse of time, or too great an interval between 
the several phenomena. The "dark day" or ob- 
scuration of the sun and moon was limited to, and 
visible over, a comparatively small fraction of the 
earth, and the same is true of the meteoric shower 
referred to. Neither were general enough, in our 
opinion, to worthily fulfill the sign. It is our belief 
that the signs have not yet appeared; that when 
they do, they will affect the earth more generally, 
or will be more universally observed and felt, and 
that these signs will come either simultaneously or 
in quick succession, and be startling in the extreme. 

There are, of course, other signs given in the 
Bible as marking the "last days" or closing period 



learning as most intelligent merchants of our city who have not made 
science their study. Sitting down to breakfast we spoke of the scene, 
and he said. ' I kept my eye fixed on the morning star. I thought while 
that stood firm we were safe ; but I feared every moment that would go, 
and all would go with it.' Be assured, Messrs. Editors, this was the 
language of nature in full flow of feeling, just after an hour's watch of 
the magnificent scene, and was met with an open response of approbation 
from other intelligent eye-witnesses. The reader will see that this 
remark proceeded from an almost irresistible impression of intelligent 
eye-witnesses that the firmament had given away — that the whole host 
of stars had broken up — yet hope clung to the morning star, which 
never shone more glorious. 

" In this narrative I have spoken not of causes, but of appearances, 
and the appearances according to the impressions they made on men. 
I know not how to convey a more accurate notion of them, and yet some 
will say ' it is fanciful.' Such may know my opinion, that no fancy is 
adequate to realize with any description the solemn interest of the scene ; 
and that it required no fancy to heighten the picture, but a sound, well 
informed, and enlightened reason, to check the fancy, and to restrain it 
from running headlong into the idea of the thing which this scene is 

134 



of the present dispensation. These latter signs are 
to be exhibited in the social and political world. 
They are intimated in such passages as Math. 24:37, 
38, 39; Mark 17:23 to 28; Luke 21 125, 26; 2d Peter 
3: 3 and 4; and a particularly detailed description 
of human society in these "perilous times" of the 
4 last days" is furnished by St. Paul in his second 
letter to Timothy, third chapter. 

As it is purposed to close this volume with a 
chapter on "The Millennium, and the Future Life," 
no space, within the limits set, can be taken for a 
study of these signs. Let it suffice here to say that, 
in spite of the boasted progress of our age, — and 
the progress of the age has indeed been marvellous 
along many lines, including science, invention, lit- 
erature, art; in the more general diffusion of knowl- 
edge, and in the intelligence of the masses, — not- 
withstanding this progress, we say, and the potent 
influence which it ought to have exerted in the di- 
rection of purifying the social fabric, and ameliorat- 
ing political conditions, no candid and reflecting 
person can examine closely and calmly into these 
two departments of modern human life, without ex- 



made in prophecy to prognosticate. Men will say ' where is the promise 
of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as 
they were from the beginning of the creation.' — 2 Peter iii, 4. ' But the 
day of the Lord will come.' and although with him a thousand years are 
as one day. and one day as a thousand years, it is wise to learn from the 
teachings of his providence as well as of his word. No philosopher or 
scholar has told or recorded an event (I suppose) like that of yesterday 
morning. A prophet of 1800 years ago foretold it exactly, if we will be at 
the trouble of understanding stars falling to mean falling stars ; or 4 hoi 
asteres tou ouranou epesan teen geen.' in the only sense in which it is 
possible to be literally true. Would I stop all business? No. 'Be 
deligent in business? is the apostle's word, and that must stand." 



135 



periencing a sense of disquietude and distrust, if not 
of decided apprehension. 

With crime appallingly on the increase, the 
moral sense in an atonic state, where it is not com- 
pletely atrophied; wealth, and with it power, being 
rapidly centralized in the hands of a few, at least in 
this country; the growth of monopolies and trusts, 
and the apparent powerlessness of the government 
to eradicate or suppress them; the sharply defined 
antagonism of the classes, and the sullen murmur 
of discontent which comes grumbling up from the 
lower social plane, — all these things mark an ex- 
tremely critical period, and suggest the presence, 
or the near approach of the "perilous times" of the 
"last days." 

As against these conspicuous facts, the popular 
optimism of the present day is the wildest kind of 
delusion, and is perhaps the prophesied cry of 
"peace and safety" before the impending storm of 
the "day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous 
judgment of God." 



136 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE MILLENNIUM AND THE FUTURE 
LIFE. 

Popular idea of the future life fanciful and erron- 
eous — Examination and analysis of one or two 
sample passages of Scripture upon which, as 
they appear in the common version, the popular 
belief has its foundation or is supposed to have 
support — What the Scriptures have to say of 
the future life — Old earth to be the theater of its 
manifestation — To be inauguarted by the res- 
urrection of the "dead in Christ," and the es- 
tablishment of the millennial kingdom — Re- 
moval of the curse — Political features, &c, of 
the millennial period — Future life manifested 
through a material organism — Answer to the 
question, "Shall we know each other in the 
future life?" 

The subject which has been so imperfectly dis- 
cussed in the preceding chapters very naturally sug- 
gests, if it does not actually demand, in order to its 
completeness, at least a brief consideration of the 
subject of the Millennium and the Future Life. 
The Millennium and the Future Life, so far as the 
righteous are concerned, are identical. They do 

137 



not present to our thought two distinct subjects, 
but one only, for the Millennium is ushered in by 
the resurrection, or restoration to life of the "dead 
in Christ, ,, or the righteous dead, and constitutes 
the initial epoch in that "eternal life" which is the 
reward of the righteous, and their exclusive inher- 
itance, the bestowal of which was the unique pur- 
pose and object of the redemptory work and sacri- 
ficial death of Christ, and which shall continue in 
endless evolution or unfolding throughout the 
everlasting ages. "I am come/' says Christ, "that 
they may have life, and that they may have it more 
abundantly," — abundantly as to to duration, as well 
as to power and scope. 

But, what a stupendous theme is this. How the 
human mind is awed in its contemplation, and made 
conscious of its weakness and of the limitation of its 
powers. And yet, how fascinating and attractive is 
the theme. How it scintillates and sparkles and 
glows before the eye of the imagination. No won- 
der the pencils which have attempted to picture the 
"future life" have frequently been dipped in the 
colors of fancy, and that the resultant picture has 
been, therefore, not a verisimilitude, but a mere 
dream, which eludes both the senses and the rea- 
son, and has no substantial basis, neither in science 
nor in Scripture. Indeed, the future life of the 
popular thought is a future life only in the sense of 
being a sequel to, or continuation of the present life, 
under changed conditions, and not at all future in 
the sense of being due for the entire race at some 

138 



definite time yet to come. On the contrary, the 
future life, as popularly understood, is a life in 
progress now, and which has been in progress for 
many ages, ever since the "blood of righteous 
Abel" was spilt by the cruel hand of Cain, hard by 
the gates of Eden, and thus Abel, passing through 
the grim portals of death, entered solitarily and 
alone into the "mysteries" of the future life. 
Where? No one knows definitely. The only at- 
tempt at its localization being expressed in the very 
vague term "Heaven." How? No one knows that, 
either, except as it may be gathered from the not 
less vague and unintelligible phrase used to express 
the popular conception of it, viz: "In the disem- 
bodied state." ' 

There is no language emphatic enough in which 
to repudidate this mongrel and monstrous product 
of heathen philosophy on the one hand, and on the 
other, of the lying fabrications of the so-called 
Christian Church during a corrupt, ignorant, and 
superstitious period of her history, — a product 
which has its roots in the fiction of human immor- 
tality, that same old, persistent, traditional lie, first 
uttered by the "serpent" in Eden, "thou shalt not 
surely die." 

Nowhere in the Scriptures is man said to be im- 
mortal, and neither is there a single suggestion or 
intimation of his going to Heaven when he dies, 
nor at any time thereafter. On the contrary, there 
are at least two very emphatic statements in the 
Bible, one by Christ, the other by Peter, which deny 



139 



this theory. The former is recorded in John's gos- 
pel (Chap, iii., 13), and occurs in the conversation 
between Christ and Nicodemus, and is this, "No 
man has ascended up to Heaven." For four thou- 
sand years at least, before this utterance of the Sa- 
vior, the saints of God had been falling, generation 
of them after generation, under the stroke of death, 
and if the theory of the immediate ascent of the 
saints to Heaven, at death, be true, what shall be 
done with this strong and clear statement of the 
great teacher and the founder of our faith? If, on 
the other hand, this statement of Christ be true, 
what then becomes of the popular notion of the as- 
cent to Heaven of the saints at death? 

The other Scriptural denial of this theory is 
recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, Chap, ii., 29 
to 34 inclusive, and forms a part of Peter's pente- 
costal sermon. Referring to the prophetic psalm 
of David (Ps. xvi., 8, 9, 10,) he applies it to Christ, 
and in his argument for this application of it he 
says, "men and brethren, let me freely speak unto 
you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and 
buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day; 
* * * (verse 34) "for David is not ascended into 
the heavens." Peter's argument, therefore, is not 
only conclusive as to the application of this pro- 
phetic psalm to Christ, but also conclusive as 
against the popular doctrine or notion of the as- 
cent of men to Heaven at death, for if David, the 
"man after God's heart" was not in Heaven at the 
time of this sermon, — over a thousand years after 



140 



his death, — who of all the saints were, and who of all 
the saints shall ever be. 

It is true there are a few passages of Scripture, 
as rendered in our common English version w r hich, 
given the theory of the immortality of the soul, and 
of its ascent to Heaven at death, seem to harmonize 
with the theory, and, even perhaps to intimate it, 
but every one of those passages might, with much 
less distortion of the original, and with absolute 
harmony as to the general teaching of Scripture on 
these subjects, be translated differently. 

Tinkering with, and manipulating Scriptures, 
with the object of forcing it into adjustment with 
private theories, or theories of any kind, can not 
be any more abhorrent to the reader than it is to 
the writer, as these pages amply attest, but, it must 
be admitted that where, in our English version, a 
passage of Scripture is so translated from the orig- 
inal, as to bring it into conflict with other portions, 
and with the general teaching of Scripture on any 
given subject, and which might, at the same time, 
be translated with equal or even greater propriety, 
and without any violence whatever to the original, 
so that it would not conflict with other portions, 
nor contradict its general teaching on any given 
subject, then, every consideration of reason, con- 
sistency, and truth demand that the latter transla- 
tion be substituted for the former. 

It would be wandering too far, alike from our 
subject and our purpose, to examine all of those 
passages of Scripture, or even to examine very ex- 

141 



haustively any one of them, but it might be due to 
the reader to refer to, and examine one or two of 
them by way of illustration. 

The most obvious one is the Savior's reply, on 
the cross to the penitent thief, recorded in Luke's 
gospel (Chap, xxiii., 43), viz: "And Jesus said 
unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou 
be with Me in Paradise." Before considering the 
question of the translation of this passage or its 
grammatical structure, it will be best to bring to 
the attention of the reader one or two important 
facts in connection with it. 

The first and most important fact to be noted 
is that the Savior was not in Heaven at any time 
during the day of the conversation with the peni- 
tent thief, as we shall show. He was dead and his 
body delivered to Joseph of Arimathea on the "day 
of the preparation" which was "the day before the 
Sabbath" (as explained by Mark). The conversa- 
tion alluded to must therefore have occurred that 
day at the latest, viz: Friday. On the following 
Sunday, the day after the Sabbath, at dawn or 
thereabouts, He appeared to Mary in the garden 
where the tomb in which He was placed after death 
was located, and, on a movement from Mary, prob- 
ably to fall at His feet and embrace Him, at the 
moment of His revealing Himself to her, He ob- 
jected, saying, "touch Me not, for I have not yet 
ascended to my father" Here then are the words 
of Christ, Himself, given at least the second day 
after His conversation with the penitent thief, at- 

142 



testing the fact that He had not ascended to 
Heaven yet. If, therefore, the English translation 
of Christ's reply to the thief is correct, promising 
the thief to be with Him in Paradise that very day 
of the conversation, then it follows, in view of the 
above recorded fact, that His promise failed. They 
were not in Heaven together that day. As a mat- 
ter of fact, recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, by 
the most particular and lucid of all New Testament 
writers, Christ did not ascend to Heaven for forty 
days after His resurrection (Acts i., 3). 

Of course, to this it will be replied by those who 
hold opposite views on the questions which we have 
been discussing, that, when Jesus told the thief that 
He would that day be with him in Paradise, he 
meant this of His "soul," and not of His body; 
that His body did not ascend, it is true, for 40 
days after His resurrection, but His "soul" as- 
cended immediately at death, and returned again to 
re-inhabit His body at the resurrection, on the 
third day thereafter. But the second chapter of 
this volume more than meets this objection, and 
if anything further is wanted, the objector is refer- 
red to Psalm xvi, 10 (the psalm which we have just 
seen, was applied by Peter to Christ), where he will 
read, "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hades 
(the grave), neither w T ilt thou suffer thine Holy One 
to see corruption." Evidently his soul accom- 
panied his body to the grave, and lay there en- 
tombed, since it is prophetically affirmed in this 
passage that it should not be "left there," and that 

143 



the "Holy One" — his complete and entire human- 
ity — should not be suffered to "see corruption" by 
being thus "left in hades" or the grave. The next 
fact in this connection to which attention must be 
called is that nowhere — neither in the thief's re- 
quest nor in the Savior's reply — is anything said 
about Heaven. The request is, "Remember me 
when thou comest into (in) thy kingdom." The 
reply is "Thou shalt be with me in Paradise." Un- 
less, therefore, it can be demonstrated that Heaven 
and Paradise are one and the same place, or that 
Paradise is in Heaven, there is no warrant for using 
this Scripture as a proof that men go to Heaven 
when they die. There is ground, however, for in- 
sisting that Christ's Kingdom and Paradise are the 
same place, or that, at least, Paradise is located in 
and forms a part of that Kingdom, because other- 
wise there would be no congruity between the 
thief's request and the Savior's reply. The request 
is, "Lord, remember me when thou comest in thy 
Kingdom" The reply is, "Thou shalt be with me 
in Paradise" 

By this brief exposition of plain and incontro- 
vertible facts the prejudices of the reader, if he 
have any, in favor of the present rendering of this 
passage in the E. V. will be, if not dissolved, at 
least sufficiently disturbed to render him willing 
to consider w T hat will now be said on the question 
of the grammatical structure and translation of the 
passage. 



144 



Observe that the passage promises the pres- 
ence of Christ together with the thief in Paradise 
on the day of the conversation, only by having the 
comma (,) placed after the word thee instead of 
after to day thus, "Verily I say unto thee, to day 
thou shalt be with me in Paradise. ,, If the comma 
were placed where it evidently and properly be- 
longs, viz: after to day, no such promise would 
appear, but in its stead a simple assurance or prom- 
ise to the thief of his admission to Paradise with 
Christ at Christ's coming and Kingdom. We say 
at the coming and Kingdom of Christ because in 
examining the reply of the Savior, it must not be 
severed from the request which it answers, "Lord, 
remember me when thou comest in thy Kingdom" 
"Verily I say unto thee this day, thou shalt be with 
Me in Paradise, or in the paradise. The transposi- 
tion of the words "thou shalt" to "shalt thou" in 
the E. V. is purely arbitrary. 

The Syriac-Peshito New Testament, which is 
by some, if not by most scholars considered to be 
the oldest witness to the apostolic text, renders 
this passage practically as we have given it above. 
It reads: "Verily I say to thee to day, with Me 
thou shalt be in the Eden's garden." 

Now, as to the matter of punctuation, the reader 
must understand that there are no punctuation 
marks in the original MSS. The system of punc- 
tuation did not come into use till the fifteenth cen- 
tury. The sense, therefore, of the passage can not 
be settled by that means. If it could be positively 



145 



determined whether the Greek adverb semeron 
(to day or this day) qualified the verb which pre- 
cedes it or the one which follows it, the question 
would at once be effectively settled, but in the 
Scriptures this adverb is used sometimes to qualify 
the one and sometimes the other. It is used to 
qualify the verb which precedes it, however, 170 
times, as against 51 times in which it is used to 
qualify the verb which follows it. One or two ex- 
amples must suffice here: Deut. xxx, 16, "I com- 
mand thee this day, to love, etc." Deut. viii, 19, "I 
testify against you this day, that ye shall surely 
perish." 

If, therefore, the adverb semeron (this day), 
in the reply of Christ to the thief, were allowed 
to qualify the verb which precedes it, as in the large 
majority of cases, the passage would then become 
harmonious with the general teaching of Scripture, 
and with the facts which have been noted concern- 
ing the whereabouts of Christ immediately after 
his crucifixion. As it now stands in the E. V. it is 
in conflict with both. Properly rendered, therefore, 
the passage ought to read thus, "Verily I say unto 
thee this day, thou shalt be with Me in the Para- 
dise." 

One more passage of Scripture may be exam- 
ined briefly — one more utterance of the Great 
Teacher which is supposed to yield support to the 
doctrine of human immortality, or, at least, the 
persistence of human life after the dissolution of the 
body, and by implication, of the migration of the 

146 



soul to Heaven at death. It is found in the con- 
versation carried on between Jesus and Martha as 
they walked together from the home to the tomb of 
Lazarus, on the occasion of the resurrection of the 
latter by our Lord. The words are these: "I am 
the resurrection and the life; he that believeth on 
Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and 
he that liveth and believeth on Me shall never die." 
These are the words of Jesus in rejoinder to the 
statement of Martha, "I know that he shall rise 
again (that is, Lazarus) in the resurrection at the 
last day." Now, of course, there is nothing here 
said about the migration of the soul to heaven or 
elsewhere. The question as to what becomes of 
man at death is not even hinted at, but there does 
seem to be a very positive and emphatic statement 
made by the Savior that, so far as a certain class of 
persons are concerned, viz: believers, they never 
die. If, therefore, they never die, then, when the 
dissolution of the body takes place, they are not 
dead, and something w r hich is not the body, and 
which must be the essential part of them — the soul, 
in short, according to the popular belief — living, 
conscious and intelligent, must necessarily be some- 
where, or go somewhere, and the popular belief, 
again, sends it to Heaven. Let us examine this say- 
ing of Christ, and see how far it supports such a 
view. To do this it will be necessary to go back 
of the English version to the Greek original. 

The words which in our E. V. are translated 
"shall never die" are "w aitoftavrj ens tov 

147 



aiu)/j.a" literally, "not not may die into the age" or 
freely translated, "shall not die eternally," or "shall 
not die forever" Eis ton aionos (into the age) is 
almost everywhere in the New Testament trans- 
lated "forever" and so it should be here. The 
French Bible by J. F. Ostervald, published at 
Brussels (1863) by the "depot de la Societe Biblique 
et Etranglre" (British and Foreign Bible So.) 
translates it exactly right, thus, "Je suis la reurrec- 
tion et la vie. Celui qui croit en moi vivera, quand 
meme il serait mort, et quiconque vie et croit en 
moi, ne mourra point pour tousjours;" that is, 
"shall not die for always." To have translated it 
as in the E. V., "shall never die," would have made 
it read il ne mourra point jamais" It will at once 
be seen that there is a wide difference between 
these two translations. The former practically af- 
firms the persistence of the life of the believer after 
the dissolution of the body. The latter recognizes 
the death — the actual and effectual death of the be- 
liever, but denies that it shall be forever. The latter 
translation is not only the only one consistent with 
the general teaching of Scripture, but is the only 
one coherent with itself. They were talking of the 
resurrection,-Jesus andMartha were, on this occas- 
ion,-and Jesus calls Martha's attention to the fact 
that in Him was vested the resurrection power, and 
the future life of the believer. "I am the resurrection 
and the life," and because He is, or because the 
power resides in Him to reorganize and to revivify 
the sleeping believer, the latter shall not perma- 

148 



neatly die, or die for ever for Christ shall raise 
him up again at the last day. "This," says Jesus, "is 
the father's will that hath sent Me, that of all which 
He has given me, I should lose nothing, but should 
raise it up again at the last day," or, as in the next 
verse, "that he that believeth on the Son may have 
everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last 
day." (John vi, 39, 40.) Why this constant and 
almost unfailing association in the Scriptures, of 
the resurrection with the future life, if the future life 
is independent of the resurrection? 

Of course, with a little verbal juggling, even the 
translation which is here suggested as the correct 
one, and even in the English language, may be 
made to mean that the believer shall never die, 
for, when it is said that he "shall not die forever J 
it may be insisted that that means 'forever he shall 
not die," which is equivalent to he shall never 
die. But what candid reader would ever take that 
meaning out of the sentence? 

Enough, however, has been said on this point. 
There remains simply to say that all other similar 
-Scriptures which are used to support the theory 
of human immortality, the persistence of life after 
the dissolution of the body, or the migration of the 
soul to Heaven, at or after death afford, when crit- 
ically examined, no support whatever, but, on the 
contrary, frequently afford efficient support to the 
opposite view. 

What, then, of the future life? What do the 
Scriptures reveal concerning the time of its in- 



149 



auguration? What have they to say as to where 
it shall be enjoyed, or what place in the universe is 
to be the theater of human experience, of human 
activity and achievement in the future life? What 
of the glories of the new abode, the new nature, 
and the new experiences of the redeemed? Are 
the Scriptures silent on these transcendently inter- 
esting themes? In this w r orld of woe and sorrow 
and pain has God left so meager a revelation with 
regard to the future life that there is scarcely 
enough to stimulate courage or inspire hope in the 
human breast, and absolutely nothing as to where 
and what shall be our future home? No indeed. 
The revelations of Scripture on these points are 
copious and clear, and the believer who takes God 
at his word, who "staggers not at the promises of 
God through unbelief," but, being "strong in faith, 
giveth glory to God, being fully persuaded that 
what He has promised He is able also to perform/' 
who has no fond theory to sustain or promote, and 
who does not bow at the shrine of the arrogant and 
despotic philosophies and opinions of a world "wise 
in its own conceit," finds no obscurity in the state- 
ments of Scripture on these points, and no difficulty 
in accepting them. 

But the "veil of unbelief" is on the hearts of all 
others, and they can not see. They either ignore 
the revelations altogether, or regard them as mere 
poetry or figures of speech, or, what is worse, deny 
the authenticity and reliability of the record. 



150 



The Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corin- 
thians (Chap, ii, 9), quoting Isaiah, says: "For it 
is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither 
have entered into the heart of man, the things 
which God hath prepared for them that love Him, 
hut God hath revealed them to us by His Spirit, for 
the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things 
of God." That is to say, the eye, the ear, and the 
heart of the unregenerated (the natural man, as the 
apostle in the fourteenth verse explains) is per- 
versely closed to the revelations which God, by his 
Holy Spirit, has made and recorded in his word 
concerning the "things which He has prepared for 
the enjoyment, in the future life, of those ivho love 
him" but to us — to the regenerated believer, the 
revelation is open and intelligible. "The natural 
man," he explains, "receiveth not the things of the 
Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; 
neither can he know them, because they are spirit- 
ually discerned, but we have received, not the spirit 
of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that 
we might know the things (of the future life about 
which he was talking) which are freely given (in his 
word) to us of God. 

These words of the apostle accord with what has 
been said above, although they are commonly quot- 
ed, misquoted, or, rather, half-quoted, so as to teach 
the notion that u the things" which pertain to the 
future life are not only unrevealed, but that they 
are utterly beyond the ken and comprehension of 
mortal man — that he has no eye to see, no ear to 



151 



hear, and no mind to conceive or understand the 
"ineffable mysteries" of the future life. 

So far as the unbeliever is concerned, this is es- 
sentially true. It is not simply difficult, but impos- 
sible, for him to receive these things, because it is 
purely a matter of faith in the plain statements of 
God, and he has no faith. If you should be curious 
enough at any time to test this, and at the same 
time test the prevalence of unbelief, and the over- 
whelming predominance of the unbeliever over the 
believer, just hint seriously at the subject of the 
return of Christ, or the resurrection of the right- 
eous dead, to reinhabit the earth, or the reign of 
Christ and the risen saints upon the earth during 
the millennial period, etc., etc. — just hint seriously, 
we say, at these subjects to your friends and neigh- 
bors, or in any social group which may be gathered 
anywhere, and suggest these events as the only and 
fast approaching remedy, designed by God for the 
social and political evils of the world, and then 
notice the curl of scorn upon the lips of your aud- 
itors, the look of mingled pity and contempt for 
you in their eyes, and the general embarrassment 
and malaise of the group. If you were a child, 
they would listen complacently to your reference 
to those things, as they would to a nursery rhyme 
or a childish fable you might repeat, but as you are 
a person of mature years and mind, your allusion to 
them only inspires disgust. 

How could it do otherwise? Do not these no- 
tions, as viewed by them, bear upon their face the 



152 



stamp of the crude, infantile age in which they were 
conceived? Are they not in ridiculous inharmony 
or conflict with the great modern scientific theory 
which affirms that all the changes and modifica- 
tions which occur in the world, whether physical, 
social, political, intellectual, moral, etc., etc., are 
the effects of a principle of evolution which is uni- 
versally operative, conducting all things to ultimate 
perfection? Are they not in conflict with the theory 
of the universal domination of law? Finally, have 
they not been discarded long long ago by the great 
world at large, and especially by the great men of 
the world — the men of eminence and distinction in 
the domain of philosophy, science and literature? 
How, then, can you expect any one who respects 
his reputation for intelligence to believe them? 

When the haughty leaders of Jewish society 
sent officers, on one occasion, to arrest Jesus, the 
officers returned without him. "Why have ye not 
brought him?" they demanded. "Never man spake 
as this man," exclaimed the officers in reply. Now 
listen — listen to the rejoinder of these superb aris- 
tocrats, who reckoned themselves the exclusive 
depositaries of truth and the very source of wisdom. 
"Are ye also deceived; have any of the rulers or of 
the pharisees believed on him? And, if not, how 
could any one then have the temerity to believe on 
him? Nevertheless, the Sacred Scriptures, whose 
authenticity and divine inspiration are attested by 
abundant and satisfactory evidence, internal and 
external, and especially by the exact fulfillment of 



153 



specific Prophecy — the Scriptures, we say, declare 
these things in the plainest and most unmistakable 
terms. They declare that Christ shall come again 
to earth; that the righteous dead, or dead in Christ, 
shall rise from among the dead at that time; that 
all merely human governments shall be extin- 
guished from the earth, and be replaced by a the- 
ocracy with Christ at its head as King of Kings and 
Lord of Lords, and the risen apostles and saints 
as its ministers and officers — a government whose 
every principle and law, and whose entire admin- 
istration will be founded and conducted in abso- 
lute righteousness and truth. They declare that the 
"curse" will be removed from the earth. "Cursed 
is the earth for thy sake," said the Lord to Adam, 
in that evil day of man's first sin; "in sorrow shalt 
thou eat of it all the days of thy life; * * * thorns 
also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, * * * 
and in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, 
etc." But, in the "regeneration ,, which is fast ap- 
proaching "there shall be no more curse. " "In- 
stead of the thorn will come up the fir tree, and in- 
stead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree," 
"the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, 
and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the 
rose." "Zion's wilderness shall be like Eden, and 
her desert like the garden of the Lord." The crea- 
tion is to be "delivered from the bondage of cor- 
ruption" under which it has for millenniums been 
"groaning and travailing in pain." There is to be 
a "restitution of all things." In short, there is to be 

15^ 



a restoration of the earth to the primal order of 
creation from which it has lapsed. 

Do you ask how this can be done, seeing it in- 
volves, apparently, a sudden disturbance of the 
existing order of things in the natural world— a 
complete change in the laws which have been oper- 
ating in nature for vast cycles, if not forever? The 
answer is not difficult. It will be done by the power 
of God, "according to the working whereby he is 
able to subdue all things unto Himself." With man 
many things are impossible, and many things seem 
to him absolutely impossible, but "with God all 
things are possible." It is not only idle and use- 
less, but unphilosophical as well, for the finite 
"creature" to attempt to limit the power of the 
Almighty, or to measure the infinite capacities of 
his mind and will. 

Old Earth, then, w T hich has been the home of 
mankind from the first, shall "in the regeneration" 
continue to be his home, and will be the theater of 
the future life. "Heaven, even the heavens, are the 
Lord's, but the earth hath he given to the children 
of men." "The meek shall inherit the earth, and 
shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace," 
"for evil doers shall be cut off, but they that wait 
upon (for) the Lord, they shall inherit the earth" 
"The righteous shall inherit the land, and shall 
dwell therein forever." 

- Broadly stated, the political features of the mil- 
lennial period will be these: "The Lord shall be 
King over all the earth." (Zech. xiv, 9.) The Apos- 



155 



ties will be his coadjutors, "sitting upon twelve 
thrones, judging (that is, ruling) the twelve tribes 
of Israel. " The risen saints will also participate in 
the administration of government, especial prom- 
inence being given to the martyrs — to those "who 
were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and of the 
word of God." The principles of government and 
the principles which shall dominate and control in 
social life, will be those enunciated by Christ at his 
first advent, and recorded in very large outline in 
the gospels — principles founded in eternal justice, 
truth and righteousness; utterly impracticable in 
the present perverted moral state of society and of 
mankind, as any one can see, but easily and natural- 
ly practicable under the Messianic kingdom, for 
which evidently they were intended, for then, "Be- 
hold! a king shall reign in righteousness, and 
princes shall rule in judgment (justice)," and Satan, 
the present "prince of this world," the "spirit that 
now worketh in the children of disobedience," will 
be "bound for a thousand years." 

During the millennial age, therefore, righteous- 
ness shall predominate on the earth. The right- 
eous and beneficent reign of Christ, his coadjutors, 
ministers and officers, from among the risen and 
immortalized saints; the irresistible power of this 
government; the presence, example and moral in- 
fluence generally, in society, of the reorganized and 
perfected saints; the important fact of the absence 
of satanic influence during this period — all these 
features of the Millennium will give prevalence to 

156 



righteousness on the earth. The terrific judgments, 
also, which shall be visited upon the inhabitants of 
the earth at, or immediately following, the return 
of Christ, will have a potent influence in promoting 
righteousness during the millennial age; first, by 
sweeping from the surface of the globe, in over- 
whelming destruction, vast multitudes of its un- 
righteous and wicked population, and, in the sec- 
ond place, by the wholesome and restraining fear 
which they will infuse into the hearts of those who 
escape, when they will be thus furnished with the 
startling proof of the fact which they had long ig- 
nored or denied, viz: that there is, indeed, a God, 
and that "the Lord Most High is terrible; he is a 
great King over all the earth" — a fear whose influ- 
ence will be projected into and throughout all the 
centuries of the Millennium. But it must not be 
overlooked that the millions of unregenerated men 
and women who shall survive these judgments and 
be left upon the earth at the time of the establish- 
ment of the Messianic kingdom, will continue to 
live the ordinary course of life, just as if this stu- 
pendous event had not occurred. Christ's coming 
does not result in, or is not followed by the removal 
from the earth of all the inhabitants existing there 
at the time of this event. On the contrary, multi- 
tudes of them continue to live, and, being unregen- 
erate and not having received the divine touch of 
immortality and of moral perfection, they retain all 
their inherent propensity to sin, and the character- 
istic perversion of their moral natures ; their liability 

157 



to sin and the actual sinfulness of their lives being 
diminished, but not extinguished, by the moral in- 
fluences of their new environment and their emanci- 
pation from satanic influences. Their offspring, 
also, will inherit from them the same tendency and 
liability to sin, but possibly in a less degree, and 
thus the race, though remaining unregenerate, will 
become purer and better as the Millennium pro- 
gresses. 

At the close, however, of this period "Satan is 
loosed out of his prison and shall go out to deceive 
the nations which are in the four quarters of the 
earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them to battle" 
against the "saints" and the "beloved city." 

This final rebellion of the enemies of God and 
of His people results in the discomfiture and over- 
throw of these rebellious hosts by special divine in- 
terposition, and is quickly followed by the second 
resurrection, or the resurrection of "the rest of the 
dead;" the judgment and punishment of the wicked 
or unrighteous, and the final conflagration or 
cataclysm of fire referred to by Peter, in which the 
unrighteous are utterly destroyed, and out of which 
comes the "new earth wherein dwelleth righteous- 
ness" — that earth which is to be adorned by the 
"Holy City," the "New Jerusalem," in which God 
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there 
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, 
neither shall there be any more pain;" for "the 
former things" shall have "passed away." During 
the Millennium, however, except from among the 

15 



resurrected and "changed" saints — those who shall 
have passed forever from the mortal to the immor- 
tal state, and who are to be the inhabitants of the 
"new earth" — death will continue to gather in his 
victims. Sorrow and pain will still be present in 
the world, though in all probability much dimin- 
ished. 

We shall have organized material bodies in the 
future life, or, to state the proposition with strict 
accuracy, we will be organized material bodies in 
the future life, and in this respect no different from 
what we are in this life. This has already been in- 
timated in a previous chapter. 

, Aside from the more or less direct testimony 
borne by Scripture to this fact the Scripture theory 
and doctrine of the resurrection implies and 
logically demands it. Something which has gone 
down, which has been prostrated, must be "raised 
up again" to fulfill the idea of a resurrection; to 
justify the etymology of the word which expresses 
it; and to give consistency and coherency to the 
baptismal symbol which represents it. By baptis- 
mal symbol we mean, of course, that form of bap- 
tism in which the candidate is dipped — the bury- 
ing of the body out of sight, temporarily, beneath 
the water, and the raising of it up again into full 
view, from the water in which it had temporarily 
been hidden, and this, without controversy, was at 
least the common mode or form of baptism in 
apostolic times, and the only one which had, from 
the standpoint of the early Christian Church, any 

159 



significance. (See Rom. vi, 3, 4, 5, and First Peter 
iii, 21, omitting the words in the parenthesis, the 
more clearly to discern the figure.) 

As regards the etymology of the word, the root 
of * Avaaraais is 'Avurrqfit to make to stand up,, 
raise up, set up, also to build up again, to restore. 
So also in the Latin Resurgo-ere, from Re, which 
in composition means again, back, or back 
again; sursum, which means above, and erigo- 
ere, to make to stand, to stand up, literally, there- 
fore, to make to stand up above, again. 

The essential idea of the resurrection, there- 
fore, as indicated by the etymology of the word, is 
that the body which has not only been prostrated, 
but which, by burial, has been hidden in or below 
the ground, will be made to stand up again above 
the soil, for the Latin verb erigo, ergere has this 
specific meaning, and is used to denote the sprout- 
ing and shooting up of plants above the soil. In- 
deed, Paul, in 1st Cor. xv, speaking of the resur- 
rection, refers to the "bare grain of wheat, or of 
some other grain" which is planted, and from which 
the future grain springs, as in some way analogous 
to the resurrection of humanity. The particular 
grain or kernel of grain which is sown does not re- 
appear, but grain precisely similar and of the same 
general nature does. Not oats for wheat, nor 
wheat for corn, but wheat for wheat, oats for oats, 
etc., for "God giveth it a body, but to every seed 
its own body." Precisely so. In the resurrection 
we shall have a body as "God shall give us," but 



160 



every one his own body, identical in form and 
feature, etc., with the one which was planted, 
though composed of new materials, endowed with 
increased and very likely new capacities and pow- 
ers, and with the principle of eternal life operat- 
ing in it, or, in other words, the power of unfailing 
and endless recuperation or repair of wasting forces 
and tissues, and of resistence to disease. 

In the first pages of human history, the first 
centuries of human existence, when mankind was 
fresh from the hand of the Creator, ere the poison 
of disease had secured a lodging in his constitution, 
and had developed into the infinitely multitudinous 
forms which now assault and slay him, he lived for 
centuries — eight, nine, almost ten centuries. When 
the new organism will be bestowed in the resurrec- 
tion, it will be absolutely- proof against disease, and 
will possess the power to the fullest extent which 
it now exerts to a limited extent, of repairing all 
waste of the tissues and forces of the body, and of 
perpetual self-renovation. If, as we have seen, fall- 
en man could, under favorable circumstances, live 
for nearly a millennium, it is quite possible for the 
redeemed man to live forever, even though he be 
but a material organism. 

Immortality, strictly speaking, does not inhere 
in man— can not belong to him. He is a mere 
creature, who owes his existence to a higher power 
and intelligence. He will, therefore, ever remain 
subject to the will of his Creator, who may, if He so 
please, terminate his existence at any moment. 

161 



"God only hath immortality." Prolonged exist- 
ence, or "eternal life," is the only thing possible to 
man, and even this is a gift in the power and con- 
trol of the giver. "The wages of sin is death," says 
the Apostle, "but the gift of God is eternal life." 
"If thou knewest the gift of God," said Jesus to the 
Samaritan woman, as recorded in John's gospel, 
Chap. 4:10, and then in the 14th verse he declares 
that gift to be "everlasting life." In chapter 10 of 
the same gospel, verses 27, 28, we read : "My sheep 
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow 
me, and I give unto them eternal life" and they 
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them 
out of My hand." And this "zoe aionios" or eter- 
nal life, is only a derived life. "Because I live," 
says Jesus, "they shall live also." 

The only sense, also, in which man may be said 
to "have eternal life" now as affirmed by the Sav- 
ior, is by becoming, through faith and repentence 
and the regenerating power of the spirit, an "heir 
of eternal life" an "heir of salvation" — a salvation, 
not now, but "ready to be revealed in the last time" 
(Peter i, 5), viz: at the resurrection. It is only 
when the "redemption of the body" is accomplished 
that the "eternal" or the "everlasting" life begins. 

This was the hope which inspired the patriarch 
Job, when, away back in the dim twilight of human 
history, in the "land of Uz," on the fertile Syrian 
plains east of the Jordan, he was permitted by the 
Spirit of the Almighty to catch a glimpse of the 
future resurrection life, and gave expression to 

162 



those words of blessed hope which have been re- 
corded on the page of Sacred History for our com- 
fort and encouragement. Let us repeat them, and 
as we do, let us pause between the sentences to 
analyze their meaning: "I know that my Redeem- 
er liveth." What did Job mean or understand by 
"Redeemer ?" Redeemer from what? Not from 
sin, certainly, for he does not seem to be oppressed 
with a sense of sinfulness, but on the contrary feels 
the greatest assurance of his integrity and of his 
innocence, and the record declares of him that "in 
all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly/' 
What then did he hope to be redeemed from? Why, 
from death, most assuredly, — that "king of terrors" 
that now stared him in the face, and grinned 
hideously at him as he lay among the ashes in the 
relentless grasp of a loathsome, and fatal disease, 
as he supposed. "I know that my Redeemer liveth, 
and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the 
earth." Notice the time he expects the Redeemer 
and the redemption, and the place where he ex- 
pects Him to appear. He expects Him to "stand 
upon the earth" and at the "latter day" — identical 
with the "last day" referred to by the Savior when 
He said (John vi, 40) "And this is the will of Him 
that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, 
and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life; 
and I will raise him up at the last day;" identical 
also with the last time spoken of by Peter already 
referred to (1st Pet. 1, 5) when he said "kept by 
.the power of God unto salvation ready to be re- 

183 



vealed in the -last time" That is to say the day 
of resurrection power and glory, which will be the 
last day of the present dispensation. 

"For I know that my Redeemer liveth (Re- 
deemer from death; see Hosea xiii, 14), and that 
He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ; and 
though after my skin, worms destroy this body 
(that is, after they shall have destroyed the skin 
they shall destroy the entire body), yet in my flesh 
shall I see God." Scholars tell us that properly 
translated this must read "out of my flesh" or 
"from my flesh" as in the new version. Well, out 
of my flesh or from my flesh, that is to say out of 
a body of flesh or from a body of flesh, or from 
fleshly eyes, in spite of the destruction of the body 
which he was anticipating, he "shall see God." 
"Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall 
behold, and not another." That is to say I myself, 
this identical Job, and not another man. "Though 
my reins be consumed within me." In spite of 
the fact that I am now about to be consumed and 
suffer dissolution, or will do so sooner or later, 
yet I, Job, the same identical individual shall, when 
my Redeemer from death stands again upon the 
earth at the last day, — the day of resurrection 
power — see God. I shall behold him from a body 
of flesh. We know that elaborate arguments have 
been made to prove that Job did not here refer 
to the resurrection, that in fact, Job knew nothing 
about the resurrection. We know that it is as- 
serted that the ancient Jews knew nothing about 

164 



a resurrection, that there are no intimations of it 
in their early history, or in the earlier part of the 
Bible, but the evident carefulness of the patriarchs 
about the place of their burial, as in the case of 
Abraham, and about the transportation of their 
bones, as in the case of Joseph, together with the 
positive declaration of the apostle Paul that this 
was the "hope of the Fathers" (Acts xxvi, 6, 7, 8) 
warrant an entirely different opinion. 

Our bodies therefore, in the future life, will 
be not only material, but they will be bodies of 
flesh. The above quotation from Job intimates it, 
and the resurrected body of the Savior of "flesh 
and bones" which is the pattern of our own future 
bodies proves it, for "we shall be like him" and 
"as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall 
also bear the image of the heavenly." (1st. Cor. xv, 
49) that is of the Heavenly Man "the Lord from 
Heaven." (verse 47.) 

It will of course be objected by those who are 
opposed to this view, that in this same chapter, and 
in the very next verse to the one we have quoted, 
viz : in the 50th the Apostle declares that flesh and 
blood can not inherit the Kingdom of God; neither 
doth corruption inherit incorruption." We admit 
this apparent contradiction, and can only suggest 
a possible explanation. In the 16th Chap, of 
Matthew occurs the notable confession of Peter to 
the Messiahship of Jesus, "Thou art the Christ, the 
Son of the living God." In the verse which im- 
mediately follows this, viz: the 17th, Jesus replies 

165 



by saying "Blessed art thou Simon Barjona; for 
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, 
but my Father which is in Heaven." Here it is 
evident that flesh and blood is used to express or 
to draw a contrast between the frail and perishable 
creature, and the everlasting Creator. Indeed the 
apostle Paul himself, both in his letter to the 
Galatians and his letter to the Ephesians, uses this 
same phrase flesh and blood to indicate man in 
an aspect of weakness or frailty, as contrasted with 
superior powers. Thus in Ephe. vi, 12, he says 
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but 
against principalities, against powers etc.," and in 
Gal, i, 15, 16, he says "But when it pleased God, 
who separated me from my mother's womb, and 
called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, 
that I might preach Him among the heathen; im- 
mediately, I conferred not with 'flesh and blood,' " 
that is to say, he did not forthwith seek the endorse- 
ment or ordination of the Apostles at Jerusalem, as 
he explains in a subsequent verse, but, obeying 
rather the commission of Christ from whom he had 
received his call and ordination he went to Arabia 
and there preached the gospel, and did not visit 
Jerusalem nor the Apostles for three years there- 
after, considering the commission of Christ superior 
to any commission or authority he might receive 
from flesh and blood. The phrase flesh and 
blood is even now used to denote human frailty. 
It may therefore w T ell be that all the Apostle in- 
tended to convey in this 50th verse of Cor. xv, was, 



166 



that man in his present frail, perishable, and cor- 
ruptible state could not inherit the Kingdom of 
God, but must undergo the "change" mentioned 
in the same chapter, as necessary to fit him for 
"eternal life." It is also, of course, possible for 
God to construct for us in the future, a body of 
flesh and bones which yet will not be a body 
of flesh and blood, that is to say, the body may 
be a framework of bone, with a covering of tissue 
or of flesh, to bring back the original form and 
lineaments, but instead of the blood which is now 
the vehicle of nutrition and the agent of repair, 
there may be introduced another agent more potent 
and vital, and one which will possess the power of 
perfect and complete resistance to all influences 
inimical to the life of the body. It may be that 
some entirely new and different system of nutrition 
and repair may be substituted for the present one. 
It has not pleased God to reveal to us anything 
about this, and we must be content to wait till, in 
the possession of the resurrection body it becomes 
a matter of personal and present consciousness. 
We do know however, for it has been revealed, 
that we "shall never perish, neither shall anyone 
be able to pluck us out of the hand " of the great 
life-giver. The former explanation, however, seems 
to us to be the natural and rational one, and that 
our future bodies will be exact duplicates of the 
present ones, with only the difference noted on a 
previous page, viz: their capacity to resist disease 
and all destructive influences, and the capacity of 

167 



endless self-renovation. As before intimated, if 
Adam could live with our present organism for 
930 years and Methuselah for 969, what need is 
there for any other organism to make eternal life 
possible? The resurrection would then be a 
literal fact, and the doctrine of the resurrection be 
consistent and coherent. 

And again, if the resurrected saints are to reign 
with Christ on the earth for a thousand years, ad- 
ministering the government of the world, mixing 
with and in constant intercourse with the unregen- 
ate portion of its population, is it conceivable that in 
their organic structure they shall differ from the 
others to any apparent extent? We do not think so. 
The use by the apostle, in this chapter of his 
letter to the Corinthians, of the qualifying word 
spiritual as applied to the future body must not 
be allowed to mislead us. In an article in McClin- 
tock & Strong's Bib. Theo. & Eccles. Ency. on 
page io54,section (a)*are to be found the following 
words on this point: we quote, 'The apostle's dis- 
tinction between the psychical (d'o/ixov, natural) 
and the pneumatical ( weufiarxov "spiritual") in 
that passage is not of material (<poaixov, physical) 
as opposed to immaterial or disembodied; for both 
are equally called body (trw/ia actual and tangible 
substance), such as we know our Lord's resurrec- 
tion body was composed of (Luke xxiv, 39). It i* 
merely, as the whole context shows ("corruptible — 
incorruptible," "mortal — immortal," etc.) the dif- 



Volume 8. 

168 



ference between the feeble, decaying body of this 
life in its present normal state, and the glorious, 
fadeless frame of the future world in its transcen- 
dent condition hereafter; in short, its aspect as 
known to us here from natural phenomena, and its 
prospect as revealed in scripture. This appears 
from the contrasted use of these terms in another 
part of the same epistle (ist Cor. 2, 14, 15) to 
denote the unregenerate as opposed to the regen- 
erate heart, the former being its usual or depraved, 
and the latter its transformed or gracious state." 
The question is frequently asked, "shall we know 
our loved ones," or, "shall we know each other in 
the future life?" Although these questions are 
asked by some of our dearest friends, and by per- 
sons of intelligence, we are nevertheless compelled 
by facts to say, that such questions have their 
origin in ignorance of the Scriptures. When a 
group of sceptical Saducees, ignoring the teaching 
of their own Scriptures, and deceived by the current 
philosophies of men, captiously asked the Sa- 
viour this question "in the resurrection, whose 
wife shall she be of the seven, for they 
all had her?" the very first words of his re- 
ply were, "ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, 
nor the power of God." The questions above 
referred to, are the product of the same reprehensi- 
ble ignorance of Scripture, and the same scepticism 
as to the power of God. In the mind of one who 
has an accurate knowledge of Scripture teaching 
upon the resurrection and the future life, and who 

169 



has implicit faith in the ability or "power of God" 
to accomplish His declared purpose and promises, 
such questions do not arise. "Why should it be 
thought a thing incredible with you that God 
should raise the dead," — the reaUy dead and the 
very same dead persons? Is it because it is con- 
trary to the natural order of things, as we have been 
accustomed to see them and know them? Is it be- 
cause it runs sharply across, or violently against 
the ordinary laws of biology, or indeed any other 
of the laws of the universe? In reply to this ob- 
jection, it may be asked, are the laws of the uni- 
verse self-generative or self-enacted? Are they 
greater or superior to the God of the universe who 
made and established them? Has God never be- 
fore in the majesty of His power interfered with the 
operation of the laws of nature, and of the universe? 
Are the stories of the flood; of the passage of the 
Israelites through the Red Sea and the Jordon; 
the standing still of the sun upon Gibeon; and of 
the moon on the Valley of Ajalon; the retrocession 
of the rays on the dial of Ahas ; the resurrection of 
Lazarus, and of Christ himself, myths? Is the Bi- 
ble a book of fables or a tissue of lies from begin- 
ning to end? In view of the invulnerable testi- 
mony which history bears to the literal and exact 
fulfillment of the Prophetic Scriptures, dare you 
say so? 

"Verily, verily," said Christ, "the day is coming 
and now is (raising the dead was a power exercised 
by Christ during His ministry) when they that are 



170 



in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of 
God and they that hear shall live," — that is to say, 
the very identical persons who are now in the 
graves, mingled and confounded with, and lost, 
practically, in the dust of the earth though they are, 
they shall live. And, when these "children of the 
resurrection" do live again, every faculty they ever 
possessed or exercised will be theirs again, invigor- 
ated and perfected by the new organism, and forever 
liberated from the depressing and trammeling in- 
fluence of disease and disordered function. Is it 
conceivable, then, that their memories, — those res- 
ervoirs of knowledge of such marvellous capacity, 
even in this life, shall, when they enter upon the 
new life, be an absolute blank, with all impressions 
of the past obliterated? This w r ould be to reduce 
their possessors to the state of infants or idiots. 
Moreover, if all traces of the past w 7 ere forever ob- 
literated from their memories, what congruity or 
value would there be in either the rewards or pun- 
ishments of a future life, if those who were the sub- 
jects of them were rendered incapable of associat- 
ing them, by recollection, with the virtues or vices 
of their past lives, to which they stand correlated? 
Such a conception must be rejected on rational 
grounds, even if there were not ample Scriptural 
testimony against it. On the contrary, the human 
memory will then be revived, with all its impres- 
sions of the past restored and intensified, even those 
of them, we doubt not, which time, and age, or dis- 
ease had succeeded in obliterating or at least ren- 

171 



dering so dim that they could no longer be re- 
called, and the memory will then become a reser- 
voir of information, knowledge, ideas, and experi- 
ence, of almost infinite capacity. 

When, therefore, we shall meet our loved ones, 
or meet each other in the future life, can there be 
any question of an immediate and perfect recog- 
nition, and a sweep of recollection over the past 
life such as will bring the minutest trifle therein 
with which those persons and we stand mutually 
related, back to our consciousness with the utmost 
vividness? 

The testimony borne by Scripture to the fact 
that the human memory shall, in the future life, re- 
tain the impressions made upon it in the former life, 
or the present life, though not abundant are suffi- 
cient. In Math, vii., 22, we read the words of Je- 
sus, "many will say to me in that day (the day of 
final judgment) Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied 
in thy name? and in thy name have cast out dev- 
ils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?" 
This passage alone from the words of the great 
teacher proves it. But there is at least another, 
which, if not as conclusive as the one just quoted, 
is strongly suggestive of the fact we are discussing, 
Math, xxv., 31 to 46 inclusive is this passage. The 
righteous in this description of the final judgment 
are made to say, "Lord, when saw we Thee an hun- 
gered and fed Thee? or thirsty and gave Thee 
drink, etc.," evidently exercising the power of mem- 
ory over the former life, but failing to find anything 

172 



there to justify the statement of Christ that when 
He was hungry they fed Him, etc. Jesus solves the 
difficulty for them by saying "inasmuch as ye did it 
unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have 
done it unto Me." 

But again, the Scriptures plainly teach that our 
future spiritual bodies are to be like that of Jesus. 
"These vile bodies," or bodies of our humiliation 
(as in the new version) are to be changed and fash- 
ioned like unto His glorious body." John tells us 
that "we shall be like Him." He is simply "the 
first fruits of them that sleep" and in no way differ- 
ent from the general harvest of the dead or sleeping 
ones, which is to follow. He is only "the first 
among many brethren" who, to be brethren must 
be like Him. It follows, therefore, that if, after 
His resurrection, when changed from the natural 
to the spiritual body, from the body of His humili- 
ation to that of His glory, in the exercise of the 
power or function of memory He could recall 
events, persons, etc., of His past life, so also will 
we be able. He did that very thing, as can be re- 
peatedly verified by reference to that part of His 
biography recorded by the writers of the New Tes- 
tament which treats of His sayings and doings after 
His resurrection. 

But, perhaps the question "shall we know our 
loved ones, or each other in the future life" is asked 
not because of any fear that our past lives w r ill be 
obliterated from memory, but because of an appre- 
hension that the transformation or change which 

173 



shall occur in us and in our friends when the "body 
of glory" will be substituted for the "body of hu- 
miliation" will be so great in every respect, as well 
in our personal appearance as in our dispositions, 
and our powers of both mind and body, that we will 
be 'utterly irrecognizable, — that we will be practi- 
cally other persons entirely, and that, but for the 
events and scenes we can recall to each other when 
we meet, it will be like making an entirely new ac- 
quaintance in every case. 

Well, it must be admitted that the change which 
we shall undergo will be stupendous, for our hu- 
manity will then "be made perfect" in every de- 
partment of its being; — in its composition, for "this 
mortal body shall have put on immortality" and 
"this corruptible body shall have put on incorrup- 
tion;" in its structure, for there shall be no deform- 
ities nor blemishes upon us then, even though in 
this life we may have been compelled to carry them 
from the cradle to the grave, whether as a congeni- 
tal defect, or, as the result of accident or any of the 
infinite multitude of diseases which stand ready 
every moment in this life to assault and slay us. 
There shall be no curved nor broken spines; no 
semi-paralyzed bodies, no club feet nor cleft palates 
and hare lips. All traces of disease, and of the cor- 
roding hand of time, care, sorrow or toil, will have 
vanished forever, and we shall stand forth, each a 
picture of comliness and beauty in form and feat- 
ure, and of health and vigor, that would put to 
shame the fairest of the sons and daughters of this 

174 



age. Our moral nature also, which was originally 
created ''after the image of God/' but which has 
suffered a serious lapse by the fall of our first par- 
ents, and whose obliquity or declination from exact 
rectitude is not only coincident with, but perhaps 
entirely due to the physical disorder and default 
from w 7 hich we suffer, giving to our appetites, de- 
sires., and passions, either an excessive or a morbid 
quality, or both, — this nature will be changed, re- 
adjusted into complete harmony with the principles 
and the spirit of righteousness, the moral image 
of the Creator will be reimprinted upon it, and we 
shall be pure as the Angels who surround the 
throne of the Infinite, and joyous and happy as the 
Seraphim who shout the anthems of Heaven. But, 
through all these changes, and with them all, will 
be, in some way, the imperishable stamp of our dis- 
tinct identity, and "we shall know (each other) even 
as also we are (now) known." 

The disciples had no difficulty in recognizing 
their risen Lord, except when, by the exercise of a 
subtle power or influence over them "their eyes 
were holden that they should not know Him," as 
in the journey to Emmaus. When, however, "in 
the breaking of bread" that influence was removed, 
they instantly knew Him. 

One of the most beautiful and touching in- 
stances of this recognition, is that furnished by 
Mary Magdalene, as she stood before the empty 
tomb, weeping, sorrowing, and disconsolate over 
the loss of her Lord. Jesus appears upon the scene 



175 



and tenderly asks her, "woman why weepest thou? 
Whom seekest thou?" and she, — her eyes being in 
all probability holden, temporarily, as were those 
of the travelers to Emmaus, — mistaking Him for 
"the gardener/' replies, "Sir, if thou hast borne 
Him hence, tell me w T here thou hast laid Him, and 
I will take Him away." "Mary," "Rabboni,"— 
that was all they said to each other, and in an in- 
stant, so clear was the recognition of her Lord by 
Mary, that she no doubt leaped to embrace Him. 
or to throw herself at His feet, as the sequel con- 
clusively proves. 

Again, Peter, James, John, Thomas, and Na- 
thaniel were fishing in a boat on the Sea of Tiber- 
ias. Jesus appears on the shore. The disciples did 
not know at first that it was He. As in the other 
cases referred to there seems to have been a tardi- 
ness in the recognition. But it was only for a mo- 
ment. "Children have ye any meat," asks Jesus. 
"No," was the simple reply. "Cast the net on the 
other side of the ship." They cast it, and it was in- 
stantly full of fish. "It is the Lord," exclaims 
John in quick recognition, and immediately Peter, 
— Peter, heartsore with the painful recollection of 
his shameful triple denial, — Peter is in the sea, 
making for the shore and for Jesus. Presently they 
are all on the shore, and, on the invitation of Jesus 
to "come and dine" of the "broiled fish and of the 
bread" which He had miraculously provided, they 
sat down together, "and none of the disciples durst 



176 



ask Him who are thou? knowing that it was the 
Lord." 

If, then, the disciples, with mortal eyes, and with 
the dull perceptions of the present organism could 
recognize the risen Lord in His resurrection or 
glorified body, can there be any question that we, 
when glorified and with our perceptions and powers 
almost infinitely enhanced, will be able to recognize 
each other? None whatever. 

But was this body in which Christ appeared at 
this time, indeed, His glorified body? The pres- 
ence of the wounds, still unhealed, upon the resur- 
rection body of Jesus, as He first showed Himself 
to His disciples, has induced the belief in the minds 
of some that this body, which was the very body in 
which He had been entombed, was only a tempor- 
ary one, subsequently replaced by another, which 
was the "glorified body," the body in which He is 
supposed to have appeared at the transfiguration, 
in which also He was revealed to John on the Isle 
of Patmos, and whose effulgence is also supposed 
to have caused the intense light which smote St. 
Paul to the ground as he "journeyed from Damas- 
cus/' But, this is mere assumption, utterly un- 
warranted by Scripture, and is open to the serious 
objection that it makes the resurrection of Christ 
differ from that of the saints, by giving Him two 
bodies after the resurrection, — first the body which 
had been entombed, and then the glorified body, 
or body of the future life, while the saints are sim- 
ply sown in the "natural body/' and raised, imme- 

177 



diately in the "spiritual body/" and it is thus con- 
trary to the teaching of the great apostle (Rom. 
vi., 5), "For if we have been planted together in the 
likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness 
of His resurrection." Christ* so far as the resur- 
rection is concerned, is simply the "first fruit" of 
"them that sleep," and in no respect different from 
the general harvest of the resurrected dead. 

Christ, after His resurrection called attention to 
the yet unhealed wounds on His body, as a proof 
of His actual identity, as an evidence that He, — He 
Himself, — had risen from the dead, and the testi- 
mony which those wounds bore to this important 
fact was duly acknowledged. So we, with equal 
assurance, with equal gratitude and joy, accept the 
testimony of those wounds as a proof that the 
very same body, not as we have before explained, 
as to the identical molecules or atoms which com- 
pose it, but as to everything else, — the very same 
body which goes into the grave, reappears in the 
resurrection, save only that the "weakness" and the 
"corruption" in which it is sown, are changed for 
the "power" and the "incorruption" ^in which it is 
raised. We do not believe that a single organ or 
set of organs, or any function of the present body 
will be left out of the future body. They will all 
be there, but no longer in "weakness" but m 
"power." The process of recuperation and repair 
which belong to this mortal body, will also be oper- 
ative in the resurrection body, only it will be more 
potent, and will be absolutely effective. 



178 



The lacerations in the hands, feet, and side of 
Jesus were still present when He first appeared to 
the disciples, because they had been made by the 
cruel nails and spear, only a few days before, and 
the process of repair had not advanced far enough 
to have healed and effaced them, as we believe they 
did in due time. We believe that the future body, 
the future life, the future world are all governed by 
natural laws, — by laws which are inherent in them, 
and natural to them. There is in fact no such 
thing as the supernatural in all the universe of 
God, save only when God Himself, in the exercise 
of His sovereign will, and irresistible power, sus- 
pends, arrests, or changes the operation of those 
laws to suit His purpose, or to manifest His power. 
God only is Supernatural, for He only is above 
nature.* 



*If the Savior's body of the incarnation, the body of flesh and blood 
which He received through Mary at His birth in Bethlehem, in which He 
wandered over the plains of Palestine, in which He performed His mira- 
cles, taught the people, hung upon the cross, lay in the tomb, and which 
without controversy was the body in which He rose from the dead, — if 
that body continued to exist but forty days after the resurrection and 
was then dissolved or destroyed, or in any way displaced by another and 
entirely different body, then, the incident of the resurrection in the his- 
tory of Christ, and which occupies so important a place in Christian 
theology, is without significance and is absolutely superflous in the 
Savior's work of salvation. 

If in the future life, as taught by Scripture, "we shall be like Him," 
if we are to "bear the image of the heavenly (Adam) " if our bodies are 
to be "fashioned like unto His glorious body," and that glorious body is 
not the body of "flesh and bones" of the resurrection, but a new and 
entirely different body, then the resurrection, logically, can not be either 
the type, the proof, or the earnest of our resurrection, and therefore in 
the plan of redemption it is without any raison d'etre. 

If, on the other hand, the body of the Christ of Nazareth, Golgotha, 
and the resurrection is identical with the body which "ascended up on 
high" and "sitteth on the right hand of God" in the discharge of the 
Mediatorial function of Christ, then the resurrection has a profound 
significance, is coherent with, and altogether indispensable in the plan 
of salvation. The resurrection of our Lord thus becomes intelligibly 
the pattern, the earnest, the demonstration and the proof of ours, and 
the arguments of the great Apostle contained in the 12th to the 18th 

179 



And now my beloved readers, in the closing and 
parting words I am about to express, let us draw 
close to each other in mutual sympathy, and confi- 
dence. Let our hearts be open to ourselves and to 
each other, as reverently we enter together that 
sacred domain of the human consciousness, the 
affections and emotions, and endeavor to gather 
from this source also some light, some evidence, or 
intimation, at least, of the future life, with especial 
reference to this very phase of the subject, or, with 
reference to the question: "has this human body 
any part in the future life, or is it, as asserted by 
philosophy, abandoned at death, and our future 
existence continued ever after as immaterial be- 
ings?" 

You remember, not very long ago, perhaps, 
when, tearful, heartbroken, all the sunshine extin- 
guished from your life, and an unutterable and in- 
tolerable sense of desolation crushing your spirits, 
you bent over that encoffined form, and gazed long 
and passionately upon the closed eyelids, the pallid 
cheeks, the silent lips, and the folded hands, of one 
whom you loved more dearly than you loved your 



verses, inclusive, of the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians become 
lucid and reasonable, as certainly they are not on the other hypothesis. 
It will no doubt be urged by those who oppose this proposition that 
the resurrection of Christ ia the 'body of His humiliation" was useful 
and necessary to prove that He was indeed alive after His entombment, 
and thus to prove His power over death; that, should He have appeared 
at that time in His "glorified" body instead of the body in which He had 
been familiarly known, this proof would have failed because of the un- 
certainly which would have surrounded His identity. The reply to this 
is, that His power over death was as effectually proved by the raising of 
Lazarus and others, which He accomplished during His life, as by His 
own resurrection after His death. As to any possible difficulty of His 
identification in the glorified body, neither Stephen nor Paul, who both 
saw Him after His ascension, seem to have had any. 

180 



life. Presently the officiating clergyman began 
the solemn service of the hour. Kindly, tender 
words were spoken, words of sincerest sympathy 
and affection, for he was a good man, a true Chris- 
tian, and a tried and faithful personal friend. But 
the stupor of grief had closed your ears, and the 
words were to you no more than a melancholy 
wail, until at last these words fell from his lips: 
"This is not your loved one. This is only the tene- 
ment of clay which served for a temporary abode. 
Your loved one has gone to a fairer land, and is 
now enjoying the felicities of the eternal home." 
There was something so cold and cheerless in these 
words, that you were startled back into complete 
consciousness, and your eyes went instantly back 
to that casket which enclosed that sacred form. 
You recall that form. You think of those eyes 
that were wont to look so affectionately into yours, 
which you had seen beaming with intelligence, and 
sparkling with mirthfulness. You think of the lips 
that had spoken such gracious and such tender 
words, and which had so many times been pressed 
to your own in the expression of love. You think 
of the hands, — precious hands, — that had so con- 
stantly, tirelessly, willingly and kindly ministered 
to your wants and to your comfort, and whose 
touch had so frequently soothed you in moments 
of pain. You know every line and mark and feat- 
ure of them, and never did they seem more beauti- 
ful or so dear to you as now. You think of those 
feet, that never grew weary in their service of love 

181 



for others. You think of that form that moved to 
and fro in the home, and whose presence there 
gave light, and warmth, and peace and comfort, 
and seemed like a benediction from Heaven, and 
some way, some how, from your heart, from the 
inmost depths of your consciousness, a vehement 
protest, arose against the coldness and cheerless- 
ness of the philosophy which these words of the 
minister expressed, and more than ever you felt 
like prostrating yourself upon that sacred form, 
and bathing it w T ith your tears in expression of your 
respect and love. 

My brother, my sister, in spite of your philoso- 
phy, in spite of all philosophy, this form, instinct 
with the principle of life, and in full function of all 
its powers, is what you have loved, and is that for 
which you are now yearning in bitterness, and it is 
this, just this very body, which Christianity, as 
taught by its Great Founder, promises to give you 
back again by a resurrection. This is what 
makes Christianity differ from and transcend all 
other beliefs, and put philosophy to shame. 

"I am the resurrection and the life/' said Jesus, 
"He that believeth on Me, though he were dead, 
yet shall he live (John ii., 25). "Verily, Verily, I 
say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when 
the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; 
and they that hear shall live." (John v. 24.) "This is 
the will of Him that sent Me, that every one that 
seeth the Son and believeth on Him, may have 



182 



everlasting life; and 1 will raise him up again at the 
last day" (John, vi. 40). 

Reuss, as quoted by Prof. Drummond (Nat. 
Law in Spir. World, page 171) may speak of the 
"thesis of a miraculous corporeal reconstruction of 
our person as absolutely opposed to reason," but 
Christ has plainly taught that very thing, as in the 
quotations above given, and Paul, who declares 
that he did not receive his gospel from man nor by 
man, but by revelation directly and personally from 
Christ, affirmed the doctrine of the resurrection 
everywhere he went preaching the gospel, and in 
the interrogation he put to Agrippa he intimates 
his profound belief in it, viz.: "Why should it be 
thought a thing incredible with you that God 
should raise the dead?" Whose word shall we 
take? Who is the best authority? Christ or 
Reuss? 

What do you or I care for that cold, illusive ab- 
straction of philosophy, the "human soul" which 
neither we nor any one else has ever seen, which 
has never and can never be described, which is as 
invisible and intangible in conception as it is in 
fact, and which has actually no existence, save in 
the human imagination, and as "a spirit" in spirit- 
ualistic "cabinets," where time and again, by reso- 
lute and competent men, intent on exposing fraud, 
itshas been rudely and unceremoniously "material- 
ized" and found to be veritable "flesh and blood." 

On the authority, therefore, of the great Life 
Giver and Life Restorer, on the authority of Him 

183 



who said, "I am the resurrection and the Life," and 
who many a time proved both the validity of His 
claim and His actual power over death, as He wan- 
dered backward and forward over the Judean and 
Galileean hills and plains; on the authority of Him 
who comforted Jairus by releasing his daughter 
from the grasp of death, who comforted the widow 
of Xain by giving her back her only son, and who 
comforted Mary and Martha by restoring their 
brother Lazarus; on the authority of the eternal 
Son of God, I declare to you in closing, that in due 
time, we shall look again into the same sweet faces 
that we knew and loved so well, — faces which will 
then be radiant with the glow of immortal health 
and immortal youth. We will receive with rapture 
into our own eyes, the transcendently tender and 
affectionate gaze of those eyes which, in the years, 
long, long ago, beamed so lovingly upon us. We 
shall embrace the dear forms of those loved ones, 
and press their lips, not parched and dry with fever 
now, nor tainted with ' the breath of disease, nor 
cold and livid with the chill of death, but warm and 
soft and rosy with the vigorous life currents of the 
new organism, moist with secretions pure and fresh 
and sweet as the dew of the morning, and fragrant 
with the breath of the Immortal Life. 



184 



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